AYA is not in the best part of town to tell the truth. It's down by South Wimbledon tube, with one or three derelict shops as close neighbours and a closed down and boarded up boozer accross the road. Neither is it decked out to look particularly posh, the front windows go floor to ceiling and the unit could have been anything from a printers to a hairdressers before they took it over. That said, when we went on a rainy and flippin freezing Thursday it was banged out so they must be doing something right.
It's BYO. They don't sell ANY alcohol whatsoever so if you fancy a tipple and aren't prepared, you're staring down the gunbarrel at the Tesco's which is tacked onto the side of the garage accross the road. I bought some wine and beer there, and my answer to the "how did we do?" which was emblazoned accross the bottom of the receipt is "pretty shit really". The shops horrible and depressing. Anyway enough about Tesco's, but buy your booze from somewhere else before you come.
Inside the restaurant, all the staff and chefs look like extras from a James Bond movie. You know the opening sequence of pretty much every film where he's being chased by a random bad guy through the bazaars of Marakesh. Those guys who look at him as if to say "Hey!!! WTF!!!" when he knocks their fruit and veg display over with his Harley? they all work at AYA. They're pleasant enough here though, although my guess is if you went in there giving it Charlie big spud some gadgie from behind the char-griller would produce a machete like an elephants trunk and chop your fingers off (if he was in a good mood). Our waiter was a suavey looking bloke in a suit who looks like he probably shaves about once every hour and half, he was extremely pleasant and knowledgeable too.
The menu has all the old middle eastern favourites (as if I know any), and we basically steamed in and started ordering willy nilly. We got some houmous ( I bet everyone who goes here does), some babaganoush (which coincidently is my favourite word in the world), some cottage cheesy stuff which I couldn't quite get my head around, some falafal and some Lebonese sausages. All of it was pretty good, but the babaganoush was absolutely sensational. It was so good, that if they'd told me at that point that they'd sold out of everything except it, I would have just ordered a bucket full. You also get this flat bread stuff for dipping, but I wolfed ours in about a minute which was a big mistake as it turned out. Despite me asking said waiter twice for some more bread it never arrived, although he was very agreeable and nice about it each time I asked him. The way he said "no problem sir!" and then didn't bring any, reminds me a bit of my barbers if you ever try and change haircuts. When he says "what are we having today sir?" you might as well tell him you fancy a Sigue Sigue Sputnik pink mohican for all the effect it'll have. You're still going to get a "two and four" anyway, and it appeared that we weren't getting anymore bread at AYA too. Never mind though, all the starters were fab. BTW, apparently not ordering these little mince meat pastry things (God knows what they're called) was a bit of a schoolboy error, next time.
For main I had a mixed grill. It had on it some lamb and chicken shish, and some minced lamb shish, and some other stuff which escapes me now. You get chips or rice, and I had chips (which were them big beefeetery type things). All the meat was superb, really really great. Quick aside here, if you're a vegetarian order plenty of houmous and babaganoush, savour it cos there's bugger all else to speak of. The chips would be better in my opinion if they were 3/8" fries or something similar, and also when I asked them for some hot chilli sauce they didn't have any which was a bit odd. I can't surely be the first person to ask for it. They did however have this other mild chilli which was mildly good. I cannot for the life of remember what my dining companions had for main, but they did say it was good if that helps.
The bill (including a tip for Omar Sharriff) came to £58 obviously without booze. Considering I went in there hungry and could barely walk on the way out, I have to say it was brilliant value. To be totally honest, it was worth it just for the babaganoush, and any quibbles I had about bread and chilli sauce are only minor. Next time I'm back (which will be very soon, I really enjoyed it) I'll not just BYO my beer, I'll bring me own bread and chilli sauce as well.
AYA is a smashing local restaurant, go. On the evidence of our visit don't take a chance either, book.
Monday, 11 February 2013
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
The Lawns Bistro "working Lunch", the @14TherFrog review.
One of the best meals I had in the whole of 2012 was within walking distance of where I live, at the Lawns Bistro in Wimbledon village. Lifes like that, you traipse all over London sampling the various scrummy bits of grub on offer, but once in a while you find a gem right under your hooter. Anyways I'd seen the "working lunch" advertised on a board outside for a while now and been meaning to go and give it a bash. It's kind of the £14 quid for two courses, £18 for three carry on, with wine extra I think. So last week, finally, we went.......
Now as a publican, it's rare for me to "do lunch". Where I come from, it's called "dinner" not lunch, and your evening meal is your "tea" (I know but I'm Northern, that's how it is). Given that, I'm not the kind of bloke who is going to go for a poncey little starter followed by a wedge of goats cheese on a little mound of lettuce. So looking at ther menu at the Lawns, I got to thinking that I could probably eat all of it. I was starving hungry, couldn't decide, and it looked fantastic, so I had a quick word in the shell-like of the waiter and he agreed to do us three starters and a main.
We opened up with this little mussel soup (they probably call it a bisque but that's their privilage). I'm not some kind of food poseur, but I think it probably had a bit of saffron it as well. It was unbelievably good, really fanstastic. Particularly so when you dunked your little bread rolls in which they kept bringing round. Very rich it was too, as you'd expect.
Next up was the chicken liver parfait, which is world champion standard. I could sit at home with a pile of toast and eat this till the cows have been home and gone out again. Just wonderful. Needless to say the bread kept coming and I kept eating, brilliant.
Oh and I forgot to say Sarah ordered some Pinot Des Charantes (that's probably not how you spell it). They make it in Cognac, and we went there once and loved it. It was beautiful drop.
Anyways where were we? Oh yes, next starter up was Geese rillettes. A rillette appeared to me (as I had no idea what it was) to be kind of pulled leg meat mixed with a spicyish dressing and served with toast and a kind of sweet jam (I'm going from memory here, I don't take notes when I'm eating). It was flippin lovely also, but I was now beginning to realise I actually couldn't "eat the whole menu", no way Jose, or Jean-Paul, or whatever it is.
For main I had a bavette steak and big chips. This was the most flavoursome piece of steak I've had in ages, pinker than something that's very pink in the middle, and the chips were absolutely fantastic. We kept on quaffing this posh mineral water which had tiny bubbles (the smallness of which baffled me for ages during the meal) and to be totally honest I can't remember if we had a dessert or not (I don't think we did). We did have some fantastic coffees, and a chat with the staff who were all wonderful. Ah and Sarah has just said "don't forget the chocolates", and we got these little chocoate sweet things with the coffee which were brill.
The bill came to about £80 for the three of us, and it was a completely brilliant afternoon. We all thought it was unbelieveable value, which probably explains why the restaurant was pretty much packed out. I'm a huge advocate of the Lawns Bistro, I love going there for an evening out. Now, having tried the lunch menu I'll be going there in the afternoon as well. Well done to all concerned with this place, you should be proud of it.
Now as a publican, it's rare for me to "do lunch". Where I come from, it's called "dinner" not lunch, and your evening meal is your "tea" (I know but I'm Northern, that's how it is). Given that, I'm not the kind of bloke who is going to go for a poncey little starter followed by a wedge of goats cheese on a little mound of lettuce. So looking at ther menu at the Lawns, I got to thinking that I could probably eat all of it. I was starving hungry, couldn't decide, and it looked fantastic, so I had a quick word in the shell-like of the waiter and he agreed to do us three starters and a main.
We opened up with this little mussel soup (they probably call it a bisque but that's their privilage). I'm not some kind of food poseur, but I think it probably had a bit of saffron it as well. It was unbelievably good, really fanstastic. Particularly so when you dunked your little bread rolls in which they kept bringing round. Very rich it was too, as you'd expect.
Next up was the chicken liver parfait, which is world champion standard. I could sit at home with a pile of toast and eat this till the cows have been home and gone out again. Just wonderful. Needless to say the bread kept coming and I kept eating, brilliant.
Oh and I forgot to say Sarah ordered some Pinot Des Charantes (that's probably not how you spell it). They make it in Cognac, and we went there once and loved it. It was beautiful drop.
Anyways where were we? Oh yes, next starter up was Geese rillettes. A rillette appeared to me (as I had no idea what it was) to be kind of pulled leg meat mixed with a spicyish dressing and served with toast and a kind of sweet jam (I'm going from memory here, I don't take notes when I'm eating). It was flippin lovely also, but I was now beginning to realise I actually couldn't "eat the whole menu", no way Jose, or Jean-Paul, or whatever it is.
For main I had a bavette steak and big chips. This was the most flavoursome piece of steak I've had in ages, pinker than something that's very pink in the middle, and the chips were absolutely fantastic. We kept on quaffing this posh mineral water which had tiny bubbles (the smallness of which baffled me for ages during the meal) and to be totally honest I can't remember if we had a dessert or not (I don't think we did). We did have some fantastic coffees, and a chat with the staff who were all wonderful. Ah and Sarah has just said "don't forget the chocolates", and we got these little chocoate sweet things with the coffee which were brill.
The bill came to about £80 for the three of us, and it was a completely brilliant afternoon. We all thought it was unbelieveable value, which probably explains why the restaurant was pretty much packed out. I'm a huge advocate of the Lawns Bistro, I love going there for an evening out. Now, having tried the lunch menu I'll be going there in the afternoon as well. Well done to all concerned with this place, you should be proud of it.
Friday, 14 December 2012
The Glasshouse Kew, the @14Thefrog review.
I heard great things about the Glasshouse prior to our visit. Someone whose views I respect a lot told me it was "some of the best food currently on offer in London", so you can imagine how I felt as the black cab pulled up outside its glassy, housey frontage. We'd got in on a cancellation, and it was packed out when we arrived (I'd say about 50 covers at a guess) and buzzing away nicely. The clientelle was well heeled forty somethings in the main, and the restaurant clearly knows its market very well.
We got some water in (or someone else did, always seems a bit pointless to me) and perused the menu. It was quite reasonable given the promised quality, about forty five quid for a three course menu, or the taster menu at sixty quid or ninety five including a wine with each course (of which there were six I think). We decided to go for the taster menu as it contained most of the dishes our table of four were going to order anyway. Over the years I've found these menus have the added bonus of @NZSezGB not either nicking half of my food, or alternatively trying to stuff a bit of her wild mushroom ravioli into my mouth while I'm chewing on a sausage. The wine to match the food angle is always a winner too, so it was in for a penny in for a hundred quid and lets go the whole hog.
There are more waiters than you can shake a shiney shovel at here, and aside from one moment which I'll return to later and one young fella whose accent unwittingly made "you're welcome" sound remarkably like "you're a wanker" when he spoke to me, the service was good. There is a chance of course I'm doing the young fella with the accent a slight disservice here and he was more perceptive than I'm giving him credit for, in which case of course I take it back and commend him on his swift reading of human character.
We opened up with an amuse (their words not mine obviously) of cep and potato soup. This was dark, creamy and earthy. To be totally honest, I could have eaten a bucket full without any bother. Flippin lovely it was, and if you ever go it's on the main menu and you won't go far wrong at all ordering it. They kept bringing round bread and I kept taking it, the olive in particular is really good. I did consider dipping the bread in the soup (which is what I'd do at home) but not wanting to give the waiter with the accent any further encouragement, decided to leave well alone.
Next up was a smoked salmon terrine thing which was nice. I was disappointed that the horseradish blob which came with it didn't have more of a kick, but I suppose not everyone likes their nose to run while they're eating. The wine with this an Australian from Adelaide, and this was the only moment when the service fell down a bit. I asked the young lad who brought it out what the "story" was with the wine as I'd never heard of the grape variety (Fiano or something like that). He told me he'd ask the somellier, only to return with the bottle which he gave me to read the label off the back. Fair enough I guess but normally you get the wine gadgie over to tell you it's been filtered through nettle leaves and stored in Sicilian oak or something, off a grape that was originally grown in Sardinia. To be fair the somellier did come over for all the other wines and he was a smashing young bloke who knew his onions. Anyway the wine from Australia was good as I recall.
Next up we had the star of the show as far as the food was concerned. Kidneys (veal maybe?) with a little mustardy sauce, a bit of pastry and some tiny confit veggies (their description was better than mine but I'm going from memory here). This is/was a sensational dish, everyone at our table rated it number one in the tasting menu Olympics (you do these things after a few glasses of wine). This was top class cooking, perfect. I can't for the life of me remember what wine we had with this, but by now the wine bloke was in full flow and it all sounded and tasted good.
We had some cornish cod after this. A lovely little piece of fish with some sweet kind of sauce, some edamame beans and a bit of bok choy leaf about the size of a matchbox. The essence of this underrated vegetable is surely in the crunchy white bits though, and just giving you a bit of leaf seems about as pointless to me as deconstructing a brussel sprout. Overall however, this was a tasty little number. I'd have gone for a bigger lump of fish too, but that's probably just me. I think with this one we had some French wine.
The Duck breast next was lovely (I do like Duck). It came with fonadant potato and confit duck leg, but I wouldn't personally bother with the orangey stuff on top (candied orange zest maybe?). I found it overpowered it a bit, I'd have liked the dish without it on. The duck breast though was beautifully cooked it has to be said. With this we had some Portuguese red wine which I didn't like although I can't remember much more about it than that.
After that there was some sorbets which were good. My personal favourite was the blood orange one which was sharp enough to make you pull a funny face while you were eating it, and these were followed by a chocolatey thing which was very rich and lovely. There was a dessert wine (sparkley) which I didn't like at all (everyone else did it's just me) but the wine waiter very kindly gave me someting else when he noticed me not guzzling it. With the chocolate dessert we had a red Spanish wine which was kind of caramel like and absolutely fab.
The bill came to about £435 for four of us (the obligatory and soooo annoying to me 12.5% service charge nudging it up) and I wouldn't complain at it by any means. The food was mostly excellent, and at least very good, while,the service was nice too. They rang us a cab, got our coats, I said thanks to the guy with the accent and I'm almost certain he said "you're welcome" as I was leaving.
There was some great cooking in parts at the Glasshouse, and everything was of a high standard. I would say though that this market is a tough one. At these sort of prices you are into the Roganic kind of hitting zone, more expensive than the Lawn in Wimbledon village and up there with some of the west end places who have eye-watering rents to contend with. This restaurant is definately up in that sort of class and I'd go again. Among the best food in London though? Perhaps not last night, but given it's popularity it probably normally is. Go, it's good.
We got some water in (or someone else did, always seems a bit pointless to me) and perused the menu. It was quite reasonable given the promised quality, about forty five quid for a three course menu, or the taster menu at sixty quid or ninety five including a wine with each course (of which there were six I think). We decided to go for the taster menu as it contained most of the dishes our table of four were going to order anyway. Over the years I've found these menus have the added bonus of @NZSezGB not either nicking half of my food, or alternatively trying to stuff a bit of her wild mushroom ravioli into my mouth while I'm chewing on a sausage. The wine to match the food angle is always a winner too, so it was in for a penny in for a hundred quid and lets go the whole hog.
There are more waiters than you can shake a shiney shovel at here, and aside from one moment which I'll return to later and one young fella whose accent unwittingly made "you're welcome" sound remarkably like "you're a wanker" when he spoke to me, the service was good. There is a chance of course I'm doing the young fella with the accent a slight disservice here and he was more perceptive than I'm giving him credit for, in which case of course I take it back and commend him on his swift reading of human character.
We opened up with an amuse (their words not mine obviously) of cep and potato soup. This was dark, creamy and earthy. To be totally honest, I could have eaten a bucket full without any bother. Flippin lovely it was, and if you ever go it's on the main menu and you won't go far wrong at all ordering it. They kept bringing round bread and I kept taking it, the olive in particular is really good. I did consider dipping the bread in the soup (which is what I'd do at home) but not wanting to give the waiter with the accent any further encouragement, decided to leave well alone.
Next up was a smoked salmon terrine thing which was nice. I was disappointed that the horseradish blob which came with it didn't have more of a kick, but I suppose not everyone likes their nose to run while they're eating. The wine with this an Australian from Adelaide, and this was the only moment when the service fell down a bit. I asked the young lad who brought it out what the "story" was with the wine as I'd never heard of the grape variety (Fiano or something like that). He told me he'd ask the somellier, only to return with the bottle which he gave me to read the label off the back. Fair enough I guess but normally you get the wine gadgie over to tell you it's been filtered through nettle leaves and stored in Sicilian oak or something, off a grape that was originally grown in Sardinia. To be fair the somellier did come over for all the other wines and he was a smashing young bloke who knew his onions. Anyway the wine from Australia was good as I recall.
Next up we had the star of the show as far as the food was concerned. Kidneys (veal maybe?) with a little mustardy sauce, a bit of pastry and some tiny confit veggies (their description was better than mine but I'm going from memory here). This is/was a sensational dish, everyone at our table rated it number one in the tasting menu Olympics (you do these things after a few glasses of wine). This was top class cooking, perfect. I can't for the life of me remember what wine we had with this, but by now the wine bloke was in full flow and it all sounded and tasted good.
We had some cornish cod after this. A lovely little piece of fish with some sweet kind of sauce, some edamame beans and a bit of bok choy leaf about the size of a matchbox. The essence of this underrated vegetable is surely in the crunchy white bits though, and just giving you a bit of leaf seems about as pointless to me as deconstructing a brussel sprout. Overall however, this was a tasty little number. I'd have gone for a bigger lump of fish too, but that's probably just me. I think with this one we had some French wine.
The Duck breast next was lovely (I do like Duck). It came with fonadant potato and confit duck leg, but I wouldn't personally bother with the orangey stuff on top (candied orange zest maybe?). I found it overpowered it a bit, I'd have liked the dish without it on. The duck breast though was beautifully cooked it has to be said. With this we had some Portuguese red wine which I didn't like although I can't remember much more about it than that.
After that there was some sorbets which were good. My personal favourite was the blood orange one which was sharp enough to make you pull a funny face while you were eating it, and these were followed by a chocolatey thing which was very rich and lovely. There was a dessert wine (sparkley) which I didn't like at all (everyone else did it's just me) but the wine waiter very kindly gave me someting else when he noticed me not guzzling it. With the chocolate dessert we had a red Spanish wine which was kind of caramel like and absolutely fab.
The bill came to about £435 for four of us (the obligatory and soooo annoying to me 12.5% service charge nudging it up) and I wouldn't complain at it by any means. The food was mostly excellent, and at least very good, while,the service was nice too. They rang us a cab, got our coats, I said thanks to the guy with the accent and I'm almost certain he said "you're welcome" as I was leaving.
There was some great cooking in parts at the Glasshouse, and everything was of a high standard. I would say though that this market is a tough one. At these sort of prices you are into the Roganic kind of hitting zone, more expensive than the Lawn in Wimbledon village and up there with some of the west end places who have eye-watering rents to contend with. This restaurant is definately up in that sort of class and I'd go again. Among the best food in London though? Perhaps not last night, but given it's popularity it probably normally is. Go, it's good.
Friday, 5 October 2012
The Blue Elephant, the @14thefrog review.
Sometimes restaurants slightly miss the target, like a striker squirting it wide when one on one with the keeper they slightly bugger it up. This can amount to a dodgy bit of service, a cold bowl of soup or a chewy piece of steak, and as a punter we end up being slightly miffed but not overly suicidal about the whole experience as long as it's handled well. Maybe he'll find the onion bag next time we think, and besides he seems like a nice fella and he does try his best. Other times though, it's an open goal miss followed by the striker head butting the linesman and getting himself sent off. In these circumstances no amount of handwringing can make things right. Not only do you not want a "free" dessert, but quite frankly you'd rather stick wasps up your arse than even contemplate it.
Thankfully such experiences are rare, but we had one the other night. The Blue Elephant is over by Imperial wharf. It's a Thai restaurant that used to be in Fulham Road and it carries with it a reputation which is historically good but in recent years more of a "top-table 50% off" sort of place. It's nice when you go in, they've messed around with the awful modernistic frontage and interior of what is essentially a brick shell and made it look like a posh version of the log flume at Chessington world of adventures. The menu promises much too in terms of how expensive it is and how it reads. "Free range chicken green curry" reads beautifully, and at twenty three quid a pop (rice extra) must be pretty good you'd think wouldn't you?
Well, you'd be wrong. Similarly you'd be wrong to assume the "taster" menu would include freshly prepared dishes. You'd be wrong if you thought the mousse fois gras thing would be freshly put onto a spoon to be served and not left in the fridge beforehand to develop a congealed skin which made it resemble a camels left gonad (I'm guessing there but you get the picture). I'm going to hazard another guess that the camels left knacker would taste better too, but I have no intention of either proving or disproving the theory one way or the other. Also on the taster menu was some rice wrapped in a banana leaf (traditional style) which was thoroughly unpleasant, some crab which tasted like nothing I have ever tasted before nor want to again, and some soup (which to be fair was at least edible). There were four of us at the table, one lady had spring rolls to start which were pretty good, she had ribs for a main which was a surprising choice both for her and the menu and they were just about OK for flavour. I couldn't help reflect though that So chewy were they that I could give Bonnie the scary pub dog a couple to gnaw on you wouldn't hear a peep out of her for an hour or so. @NZSezGB had sweet potato dim sum which she said tasted like "congealed wallpaper paste". I had a taste and I'll take some convincing that wasn't exactly what it was. She also had beef in oyster sauce. It looked like someone had got a bit of sandwich steak and braised it for a few hours in gravy until it went grey. If only it had tasted as good as that, oh dear.
We did point out our problems to the manager and in fairness she was very nice. She offered us desserts, coffees or a free drink, and when we assured her that wasn't why we were bringing up the problems she did take everything off the menu that I'd mentioned during the conversation. Even then though the bill was 160 quid, which considering I had a bite of someones spring roll and a rib which I'm still trying to get out from between my teeth to this day, seemed a bit steep. Naturally there was a service charge on there as well, and I can only assume this must be for the nice young fella who assured me that he'd "told the chef, in order to ensure it never happens again" when I first pointed out that I was in severe danger of dying of food poisoning before the night was out. At least I could be assured that my death wasn't in vain, and that others would benefit from my imminent demise.
There seemed little for it but to go to the Ship and have a few beers. Life is too short to worry about strikers who miss open goals or get sent off, just as it's too short to worry about restaurants as bad as this one. Unless this was an extreme off night they'll surely go out of business very soon, and justice will be done. Don't go, if you fancy Thai go somewhere that does really good food, there's lots of places. This though isn't one of them, avoid at all costs.
Thankfully such experiences are rare, but we had one the other night. The Blue Elephant is over by Imperial wharf. It's a Thai restaurant that used to be in Fulham Road and it carries with it a reputation which is historically good but in recent years more of a "top-table 50% off" sort of place. It's nice when you go in, they've messed around with the awful modernistic frontage and interior of what is essentially a brick shell and made it look like a posh version of the log flume at Chessington world of adventures. The menu promises much too in terms of how expensive it is and how it reads. "Free range chicken green curry" reads beautifully, and at twenty three quid a pop (rice extra) must be pretty good you'd think wouldn't you?
Well, you'd be wrong. Similarly you'd be wrong to assume the "taster" menu would include freshly prepared dishes. You'd be wrong if you thought the mousse fois gras thing would be freshly put onto a spoon to be served and not left in the fridge beforehand to develop a congealed skin which made it resemble a camels left gonad (I'm guessing there but you get the picture). I'm going to hazard another guess that the camels left knacker would taste better too, but I have no intention of either proving or disproving the theory one way or the other. Also on the taster menu was some rice wrapped in a banana leaf (traditional style) which was thoroughly unpleasant, some crab which tasted like nothing I have ever tasted before nor want to again, and some soup (which to be fair was at least edible). There were four of us at the table, one lady had spring rolls to start which were pretty good, she had ribs for a main which was a surprising choice both for her and the menu and they were just about OK for flavour. I couldn't help reflect though that So chewy were they that I could give Bonnie the scary pub dog a couple to gnaw on you wouldn't hear a peep out of her for an hour or so. @NZSezGB had sweet potato dim sum which she said tasted like "congealed wallpaper paste". I had a taste and I'll take some convincing that wasn't exactly what it was. She also had beef in oyster sauce. It looked like someone had got a bit of sandwich steak and braised it for a few hours in gravy until it went grey. If only it had tasted as good as that, oh dear.
We did point out our problems to the manager and in fairness she was very nice. She offered us desserts, coffees or a free drink, and when we assured her that wasn't why we were bringing up the problems she did take everything off the menu that I'd mentioned during the conversation. Even then though the bill was 160 quid, which considering I had a bite of someones spring roll and a rib which I'm still trying to get out from between my teeth to this day, seemed a bit steep. Naturally there was a service charge on there as well, and I can only assume this must be for the nice young fella who assured me that he'd "told the chef, in order to ensure it never happens again" when I first pointed out that I was in severe danger of dying of food poisoning before the night was out. At least I could be assured that my death wasn't in vain, and that others would benefit from my imminent demise.
There seemed little for it but to go to the Ship and have a few beers. Life is too short to worry about strikers who miss open goals or get sent off, just as it's too short to worry about restaurants as bad as this one. Unless this was an extreme off night they'll surely go out of business very soon, and justice will be done. Don't go, if you fancy Thai go somewhere that does really good food, there's lots of places. This though isn't one of them, avoid at all costs.
Monday, 17 September 2012
The New York diaries part two-"The Halal Guys"
You could very easily go to New York and enjoy great food without ever setting foot inside a restaurant. On every street corner there are carts selling chicken over rice, lamb over rice, chilli dogs, cheese dogs, pretzels, kebabs, and god knows what else. I had a couple of dabbles at it, and on both occasions was knocked out by the quality oif what was on offer. Not to mention the ingenuity and staying power of the blokes stood behind the heat for hours on end, an incredible effort.
The chilli dogs are lovely (and at around $3 a pop great value too), but I resolved to give "The Halal Guys" a proper mention after I'd tasted their food. They apparantly started off with one cart, and now they have three, all around 6th and 52nd in Midtown, New York. I only know their history as I was tipped off by a cab driver who told me it was his current favourite fast food in the city, I didn't need a tip on the quality as there is a queue (or line as they call it there) 24/7.
Having lined up I explained to the gadgie on the serve that I had little idea what to order from his menu, and having looked at me like I was talking another language (I probably was in truth) he decided for me for that "a mix is best". I got a circular aluminium foil dish with loads of orangey rice, some salad (iceberg) with some grilled lamb doner style, along with some grilled chicken and a grilled pitta bread. On top of this he squirted some garlicky white sauce and a splodge of "the hot stuff". When I whacked a bit more of the rocket fuel on, I drew a "hey go easy on it man, it's hot!" from the seemingly slightly disgruntled "halal guy" himself. What he didn't know of course was that I really like hot food. What I didn't know was that he wasn't joking, it was absolutely blistering and I did overdo it a bit as it turned out. Ah well, not the first time or the last.
We sat down on the wall of a fountain and got stuck in. I can still taste it now, the lamb had a crunch to it not unlike the bits you get round the bone on a lamb cutlet, while the chicken had an unusual flavour that I couldn't put my finger but which was lovely. The pitta bread had gone all soft like it had been in a microwave (it was still absolutely delicious) and the rice was top notch in an orangey kind of way. I'll be honest here and make no apologies for saying it, I flippin love a kebab which is basically what this was, and it was wonderful. I kept meaning to go back, but was either outvoted by my fellow travellers, or dissuaded by the never ending lines at the Halal Guys cart.
One day I'm going to go to New York and live off street food for a week see if I don't. Until then, the least I can do is point you in the direction of these guys. Go easy on the hot sauce though, it'll burn your arse.
The chilli dogs are lovely (and at around $3 a pop great value too), but I resolved to give "The Halal Guys" a proper mention after I'd tasted their food. They apparantly started off with one cart, and now they have three, all around 6th and 52nd in Midtown, New York. I only know their history as I was tipped off by a cab driver who told me it was his current favourite fast food in the city, I didn't need a tip on the quality as there is a queue (or line as they call it there) 24/7.
Having lined up I explained to the gadgie on the serve that I had little idea what to order from his menu, and having looked at me like I was talking another language (I probably was in truth) he decided for me for that "a mix is best". I got a circular aluminium foil dish with loads of orangey rice, some salad (iceberg) with some grilled lamb doner style, along with some grilled chicken and a grilled pitta bread. On top of this he squirted some garlicky white sauce and a splodge of "the hot stuff". When I whacked a bit more of the rocket fuel on, I drew a "hey go easy on it man, it's hot!" from the seemingly slightly disgruntled "halal guy" himself. What he didn't know of course was that I really like hot food. What I didn't know was that he wasn't joking, it was absolutely blistering and I did overdo it a bit as it turned out. Ah well, not the first time or the last.
We sat down on the wall of a fountain and got stuck in. I can still taste it now, the lamb had a crunch to it not unlike the bits you get round the bone on a lamb cutlet, while the chicken had an unusual flavour that I couldn't put my finger but which was lovely. The pitta bread had gone all soft like it had been in a microwave (it was still absolutely delicious) and the rice was top notch in an orangey kind of way. I'll be honest here and make no apologies for saying it, I flippin love a kebab which is basically what this was, and it was wonderful. I kept meaning to go back, but was either outvoted by my fellow travellers, or dissuaded by the never ending lines at the Halal Guys cart.
One day I'm going to go to New York and live off street food for a week see if I don't. Until then, the least I can do is point you in the direction of these guys. Go easy on the hot sauce though, it'll burn your arse.
Friday, 14 September 2012
The New York Diaries-"Blue Smoke", the @14thefrog review..
If you love life, if you love food, go to New York. Plug into the energy, immerse yourself in the complexity and feel the pulse of this magnificent city. Wherever you go there are literally hundreds of opportunities to eat out, all of which could be reached with a frisbee throw (particularly if you've got one of those ones with the hollow middle).
But where to go, what to do, what to eat? This is the classic dilemma when you arrive in a brand new city. Nobody wants to get suckered into a Garfunkels or an Aberdeen steak house kind of mega-tourist experience, but neither does everyone want to unknowingly sample Korean pickled shark eyes while trying to get off the beaten track. So what you do is you look around for points of reference, you read books, blogs, articles and take advice, all in the name of trying to give yourself half a chance of finding the real taste of a city, the flavour of life within a new culture.
For my first trip to New York, I was accompanied by @NZSezGB (obviously), @McMoop and @Chaymondo, as well as another non-twitterer, Phil. We'd all done some research, and each got a pick of a restaurant. For my choice I decided to go with "Blue Smoke" in the Flat-iron district of the city. Why? Well firstly it's owned by Danny Meyer, the service and hospitality guru and author of the best-selling book on the subject, "setting the table". I've read Danny's book a couple of times, and it's the one of the most influencial narratives on modern service there is. Quite frankly, everyone who works in hospitality should read it, and I was keen to see the ideas and concepts in action. Secondly, I quite fancied trying some genuine BBQ grub, cooked in the pit old style, with Kansas city or Louisianna dressing. So here goes.........
Like most places in New York, it's not a dressy up kind of gaff at all. You could quite easily turn up in a Ralph Lauren polo shirt and shorts and you'd not be out of place in any way. If you're @Mcmoop, even your odd socks would only get a passing glance. All that's just as well at Blue Smoke, because when you first walk in there's a huge mirror on the facing wall (maybe 8ft by 6ft) which is smashed. It's not "arty" smashed and coloured in, nor is it "this mirror broke despite being 8 miles from the 9/11 attrocity" smashed (I know because I asked), it's just smashed. Shame, but there it is.
Anyway the much vaunted service. We got the "eyebrows but no smile" on arrival at the seater bloke, and were directed to the bar as we were a few minutes early. At the bar it was all fairly standard stuff, we got what we ordered with nothing added in and nothing taken out. We asked about a couple of different drinks, and like everything else upto this point we got our answers right enough but didn't by any stretch of the imagination have our socks charmed off. Once we got seated though, things did improve and our table server was a good fella. He knew his onions, and finally we got the feeling we were perhaps going to get an experience which came somewhere near matching what was now beginning to look like our unrealistic expectations.
The food was OK, bordering on quite good on occasions. Authentic BBQ though? Well I'm not so sure. Not only was there less smoke in the restaurant than in a working mans club when the racings on, but the kitchen doors were propped wide open and there was next to no smoke in there either. The flavour of the various offerings was no different or better if I'm honest to the "BBQ rack of ribs" you'd get in a good food pub in London. I so much wanted to love it too, I haven't looked forward to a meal as much in ages.
What did we have? Well I had chicken wings to start, and they were very similar but slightly better if I'm honest (which I am) to the ones we serve at the Alex in Wimbledon. They were massive too. Sarah (@NZSezGb) had some calamari which was pretty good as I recall, and the others had some other stuff. For mains, I had a kind of mixed grill thing with some pulled pork and some ribs, there were ribs on other plates and Sarah had some prawns. All of it was fine, not horrible by any stretch but not fantastically great either. For sides we had chips and cheese which is self explanatory, some onion ball thingies which were OK, and some collard greens which were a bit like a combo of curly kale and spring greens.
I think someone had a dessert before we made to leave (I had a beer), and then we asked for a recommendation for a good bar locally. Initially we were directed a bar apparantly called "Churchills" as we are mostly British I suppose, but after we indicated that that wasn't really the sort of thing we had in mind, the manager did come over and give us a better heads up.
All in all I wouldn't deliberately put anyone off going to Blue Smoke. If you like a decent pile of food with a BBQ sauce flavour, as well as a beer in a fairly relaxed atmos', you certainly won't go far wrong. Nothing you order will cause you to want to send it back, nobody in your party will leave hungry. If though you are looking for a bit or reality, a bit of the true flavour of the city or indeed the BBQ experience this restaurant seeks to import, I think you could do better. If you've read "setting the table" and think you are going to be swept off your feet by fantastic service, I would probably give this place the swerve as well. Better to take the lessons from the book and apply them to your own situation than to come to this place in the hope of seeing it all in practice. Like the food, the service is a long way away from being bad enough to either complain about or to write home about, it's on the good side of decent.
I didn't give up on Danny Meyer or his restaurants and philosophy after this one visit (we visited Union Square Cafe afterwards) but I did take a fresh look at what my aspirations were for his eateries. Perhaps that was the problem all along, expectations from my part simply set the bar to an unattainable level. Read the book anyway, it's fantastic. Go to Blue Smoke too if you fancy some BBQ, it's not memorable but you'll not go too far wrong.
But where to go, what to do, what to eat? This is the classic dilemma when you arrive in a brand new city. Nobody wants to get suckered into a Garfunkels or an Aberdeen steak house kind of mega-tourist experience, but neither does everyone want to unknowingly sample Korean pickled shark eyes while trying to get off the beaten track. So what you do is you look around for points of reference, you read books, blogs, articles and take advice, all in the name of trying to give yourself half a chance of finding the real taste of a city, the flavour of life within a new culture.
For my first trip to New York, I was accompanied by @NZSezGB (obviously), @McMoop and @Chaymondo, as well as another non-twitterer, Phil. We'd all done some research, and each got a pick of a restaurant. For my choice I decided to go with "Blue Smoke" in the Flat-iron district of the city. Why? Well firstly it's owned by Danny Meyer, the service and hospitality guru and author of the best-selling book on the subject, "setting the table". I've read Danny's book a couple of times, and it's the one of the most influencial narratives on modern service there is. Quite frankly, everyone who works in hospitality should read it, and I was keen to see the ideas and concepts in action. Secondly, I quite fancied trying some genuine BBQ grub, cooked in the pit old style, with Kansas city or Louisianna dressing. So here goes.........
Like most places in New York, it's not a dressy up kind of gaff at all. You could quite easily turn up in a Ralph Lauren polo shirt and shorts and you'd not be out of place in any way. If you're @Mcmoop, even your odd socks would only get a passing glance. All that's just as well at Blue Smoke, because when you first walk in there's a huge mirror on the facing wall (maybe 8ft by 6ft) which is smashed. It's not "arty" smashed and coloured in, nor is it "this mirror broke despite being 8 miles from the 9/11 attrocity" smashed (I know because I asked), it's just smashed. Shame, but there it is.
Anyway the much vaunted service. We got the "eyebrows but no smile" on arrival at the seater bloke, and were directed to the bar as we were a few minutes early. At the bar it was all fairly standard stuff, we got what we ordered with nothing added in and nothing taken out. We asked about a couple of different drinks, and like everything else upto this point we got our answers right enough but didn't by any stretch of the imagination have our socks charmed off. Once we got seated though, things did improve and our table server was a good fella. He knew his onions, and finally we got the feeling we were perhaps going to get an experience which came somewhere near matching what was now beginning to look like our unrealistic expectations.
The food was OK, bordering on quite good on occasions. Authentic BBQ though? Well I'm not so sure. Not only was there less smoke in the restaurant than in a working mans club when the racings on, but the kitchen doors were propped wide open and there was next to no smoke in there either. The flavour of the various offerings was no different or better if I'm honest to the "BBQ rack of ribs" you'd get in a good food pub in London. I so much wanted to love it too, I haven't looked forward to a meal as much in ages.
What did we have? Well I had chicken wings to start, and they were very similar but slightly better if I'm honest (which I am) to the ones we serve at the Alex in Wimbledon. They were massive too. Sarah (@NZSezGb) had some calamari which was pretty good as I recall, and the others had some other stuff. For mains, I had a kind of mixed grill thing with some pulled pork and some ribs, there were ribs on other plates and Sarah had some prawns. All of it was fine, not horrible by any stretch but not fantastically great either. For sides we had chips and cheese which is self explanatory, some onion ball thingies which were OK, and some collard greens which were a bit like a combo of curly kale and spring greens.
I think someone had a dessert before we made to leave (I had a beer), and then we asked for a recommendation for a good bar locally. Initially we were directed a bar apparantly called "Churchills" as we are mostly British I suppose, but after we indicated that that wasn't really the sort of thing we had in mind, the manager did come over and give us a better heads up.
All in all I wouldn't deliberately put anyone off going to Blue Smoke. If you like a decent pile of food with a BBQ sauce flavour, as well as a beer in a fairly relaxed atmos', you certainly won't go far wrong. Nothing you order will cause you to want to send it back, nobody in your party will leave hungry. If though you are looking for a bit or reality, a bit of the true flavour of the city or indeed the BBQ experience this restaurant seeks to import, I think you could do better. If you've read "setting the table" and think you are going to be swept off your feet by fantastic service, I would probably give this place the swerve as well. Better to take the lessons from the book and apply them to your own situation than to come to this place in the hope of seeing it all in practice. Like the food, the service is a long way away from being bad enough to either complain about or to write home about, it's on the good side of decent.
I didn't give up on Danny Meyer or his restaurants and philosophy after this one visit (we visited Union Square Cafe afterwards) but I did take a fresh look at what my aspirations were for his eateries. Perhaps that was the problem all along, expectations from my part simply set the bar to an unattainable level. Read the book anyway, it's fantastic. Go to Blue Smoke too if you fancy some BBQ, it's not memorable but you'll not go too far wrong.
Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Sticks 'n' sushi revisited
You never really get a true picture of a restaurant when you go in it's first few weeks of opening. Half the staff that greet you on those first few nights won't last the pace, half of the slick little touches all around the gaff will be long forgotten a few weeks in. Whereas once you marvelled at the real linen napkins and the Molten Brown soap in the toilets, often give it a couple of weeks and you'll have a crimbo serviette shoved in a half pint glass and a plunge bottle of Sainsburys "value" clementine & strawberry soap (if you're lucky in some cases). At first you have servers tripping over you, a raised eyebrow brings them running from all directions. Later of course, you can't find a bugger to get a beer off for love nor money.
Such is life (well such is my life anyway) so it was with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation that we went back to Sticks'n'Sushi at the weekend. The trepidation was because there's nothing worse than when a restaurant convinces you it's great, only to bitterly disappoint the second time around. I really hoped that wouldn't happen here, as much as anything else because I've praised it up so lavishly and sent so many people over there over the last couple of months.
I needn't have worried, all the favourable impressions that were made on our previous couple of visits were confirmed very quickly. The food remains lovely (and I've read one or two sniffy reviews which claim you can get better sushi elsewhere) and to that I can only answer not in Wimbledon you can't. Nor can you get a nicer and better run or slavishly clean place to take the family, and you certainly can't get a restaurant which has standards of service which are so impeccably high. These guys are really on it, and the only problem I can see for them going forward is how they are ever going to replace the utterly brilliant Danish people they have amongst their number. A few of the local staff are almost getting to the standards which they set, but this is a steep mountain to climb and I don't envy them the task.
Foodwise we had the usual kind of stuff, Ebby bites (don't ask, God knows), some Edamame beans of which I ate about 3lbs of (get the ones with the dressing on, can't remember what it's called) and all that kind of stuff. I got a chickeny board thingie with all these sticks and wings and stuff (so did my little lad Charlie) and my only criticism would be the pickled cabbagy gear on top of the rice (Kimshee or something like that) was a bit lively for him and it might be better putting it on the side. It didn't matter as I ate his anyway, but it's just a thought. All the stuff on the board was lovely, absolutely faultless. Sarah got this sushi thing which she assured me was gorgeous, while my little seven year old princess got a kiddies box thing which as it turned out was too big for her (get the small one if it's for a nipper would be my advice).
I should also mention we got this "green juice" stuff or was it yellow I don't know, anyway that was zingy and beautiful. Probably got some quite healthy ingredients in it too I shouldn't wonder. For afters, the kids had these ice cream scoops with a chocolate fish inside, I had this fruit cakey thingie with a blob of ice cream (top vanilla ice cream too). Sarah had a mini creme brulee and an esspresso which was just about the nicest cup of coffee I've ever tasted (I finished it off while she wasn't looking). I've heard people say it's a "bit pricey" but I've never felt that when I've been. Here, we had a beer each and had more food than we could finish, and it was around £100 or so with service included. I don't like service charge, but here the service is so good it's hard to complain really.
I really like this restaurant, it's currently the favourite place to talk your parents into taking you if you're a kid at Bishop Gilpin school, and you can see why. The kids aren't daft, Sticks'n'Sushi is flipping good.
Such is life (well such is my life anyway) so it was with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation that we went back to Sticks'n'Sushi at the weekend. The trepidation was because there's nothing worse than when a restaurant convinces you it's great, only to bitterly disappoint the second time around. I really hoped that wouldn't happen here, as much as anything else because I've praised it up so lavishly and sent so many people over there over the last couple of months.
I needn't have worried, all the favourable impressions that were made on our previous couple of visits were confirmed very quickly. The food remains lovely (and I've read one or two sniffy reviews which claim you can get better sushi elsewhere) and to that I can only answer not in Wimbledon you can't. Nor can you get a nicer and better run or slavishly clean place to take the family, and you certainly can't get a restaurant which has standards of service which are so impeccably high. These guys are really on it, and the only problem I can see for them going forward is how they are ever going to replace the utterly brilliant Danish people they have amongst their number. A few of the local staff are almost getting to the standards which they set, but this is a steep mountain to climb and I don't envy them the task.
Foodwise we had the usual kind of stuff, Ebby bites (don't ask, God knows), some Edamame beans of which I ate about 3lbs of (get the ones with the dressing on, can't remember what it's called) and all that kind of stuff. I got a chickeny board thingie with all these sticks and wings and stuff (so did my little lad Charlie) and my only criticism would be the pickled cabbagy gear on top of the rice (Kimshee or something like that) was a bit lively for him and it might be better putting it on the side. It didn't matter as I ate his anyway, but it's just a thought. All the stuff on the board was lovely, absolutely faultless. Sarah got this sushi thing which she assured me was gorgeous, while my little seven year old princess got a kiddies box thing which as it turned out was too big for her (get the small one if it's for a nipper would be my advice).
I should also mention we got this "green juice" stuff or was it yellow I don't know, anyway that was zingy and beautiful. Probably got some quite healthy ingredients in it too I shouldn't wonder. For afters, the kids had these ice cream scoops with a chocolate fish inside, I had this fruit cakey thingie with a blob of ice cream (top vanilla ice cream too). Sarah had a mini creme brulee and an esspresso which was just about the nicest cup of coffee I've ever tasted (I finished it off while she wasn't looking). I've heard people say it's a "bit pricey" but I've never felt that when I've been. Here, we had a beer each and had more food than we could finish, and it was around £100 or so with service included. I don't like service charge, but here the service is so good it's hard to complain really.
I really like this restaurant, it's currently the favourite place to talk your parents into taking you if you're a kid at Bishop Gilpin school, and you can see why. The kids aren't daft, Sticks'n'Sushi is flipping good.
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