Que Viet on the Pho Mile

I’m still puzzled why it’s taken me so long to enter the doors of Que Viet, I mean I must have walked past it a thousand times and for some reason I have never entered.

Sunday afternoon Pho @ Loong Kee

We always seem to stick to the same few restaurants along the Pho Mile that I thought it was time we tried the rest and first off was Loong Kee.

Pho @ Mien Tay

We were disappointed with Mien Tay. It has all the hallmarks of being a great place. Nice, small, friendly restaurant, being busy when others around it were empty. But sometimes looks can be deceiving.

I have to say however that the food wasn’t the worst I have ever eaten. I mean its Pho was nowhere as bad as that chain of the same name, then again who would serve a lukewarm broth with under cooked noodles. Utter disgrace. Once bitten, twice keep hand in wallet.

So on a cold Sunday afternoon, we found ourselves sitting inside a nice warm and fairly busy Mien Tay. There was a nice vibe inside, with lots of people chatting and tucking into some nice looking food.

The menu reads as it should do. Lot’s of good Vietnamese staples on there, of the Vietnamese kind. Which is a blessing these days, as I keep coming across Vietnamese restaurants of the Chinese kind, or are they Chinese restaurants with a beef noodle soup on the menu. Marketing.

To get things going, we ordered some Salad rolls. You kinda know how the rest of the meal is going to be after tucking into a staple of any Vietnamese gaff. They were not bad. A little too fat and stumpy, but with the peanut sauce they were tasty. So far so good.

Next up really should be the star of any show in any Vietnamese restaurant are the Pho’s. So we ordered one beef and one chicken.

The Pho’s, which were well made, and had all the right accompaniments, but were just a little underwhelming. There was not that roasted spice depth of flavour that you come to expect from a good Pho. The stock was the problem. I’m guessing they can’t either make a good stock, or they had watered it down a bit to get more out of it. Either way, bloody disappointing.

But as it was near arctic temperatures outside, the Pho did warm us up and supply some well needed nourishment and soul boosting energy for the trip back outside. Damn it was a cold Sunday.

I kinda wish we had tried the fried fish, as everyone around us was eating it and enjoying it. Maybe that is their star. Not sure if there will be a next time, but if there is, then maybe.

Work Christmas Party and Sunday Brunch to Recover

This Christmas Season is taking its toll on me. Two major daylong hangovers in three days is showing my age, and with a few more to come. How am I gonna survive.

Years ago hangovers were a weekly occurrence, nowadays they are becoming less and less frequent. Although, all my recent ones have involved copious amounts of strong Belgium beer, consumed on empty stomachs. Schoolboy errors.

Choosing the right venue for a Christmas works do, requires some delicate choosing, as you have to make sure everyone is happy. But since I work with quite a few Indian men whose idea of a good night out is, well basically is to get pissed. Easy choosing.

So all we needed was a large lively venue, a bit of food and lots of free booze. I think it took us about 30 minutes to choose our venue, and with a week to spare we were impressed anything was available.

I’m not sure who actually picked Guanabara as our venue, but it turned out to be an ok choice. Well it had all the ingredients for a Christmas party.

Large spacious venue, lively music with a good crowd of party folks, and the most important thing, the boss’s credit card behind the bar.

I started the evening off in Lowlander, having a couple of beers before waiting for everyone else to turn up. It was a big error, as nearly everyone else went straight in to the place, as they were getting free booze. Why pay for something when someone else is paying. Doh !!!

As soon as I entered I found out it was 2-4-1 on cocktails. A couple of mojitios came my way pretty quick. Then another two, and maybe two more. This all before we had sat down to eat. It was going to be a real messy night.

The normal menu at Guanabara does have some classic Brasilian items on it, like Feijoida. That wonderful black bean and pork stew. However the Christmas menu was about as Brasilian as the weather outside. I’m not even gonna try and beef up the food. It was pretty bad. It was real boil-in-the-bag-brought-in-and-heated-up-type-food. The crab chowder was bright red and pretty tasteless. My boil in the bag lamb shank was pretty tasteless, but the mint sauce had some kind of minty flavour. The pudding, which was some kind of passion fruit mousse, was pretty thick. I think I had one spoonful and that was about it. Couldn’t do no more.

I was here to get drunk, and drunk I did. After dinner everything got a bit fuzzy. I think it may have been the cachaças I was consuming through dinner. Thank the lord I never had any caipirinha, as the sugar would have blown me away. Something about sugar and alcohol my body cannot take.

I don’t actually remember leaving or getting home. But thankfully I woke up on the bus two stops form my house. Phew.

Guanabara is what it is really. This is a party venue and it does it very well. The food is pretty pants, but I didn’t expect anything else. The vibe is excellent, and my fuzzy memory has nothing but happy thoughts.

Waking up the next morning was a bit of a mare, but somehow I managed to struggle out of bed and make it to the Hawksmoor on Commercial Street for some well needed brekkie. Although it was nearing noon, so we could of have their famed roast, but as we had it at the Seven Dials branch a while back. So we opted for the breakfast to kill all other breakfast. The Hawksmoor Breakfast for 2 to share and costing £30, was the same price as two roasts.

Someone made a comment a while ago that this branch is more set up like a club than a place to have a roast. I can see the point. Very elegant and cool, much more designed for big steak eating than hungover Sunday brunch eating. But I like it here more than the Seven Dials restaurant. More cozy here. Plus it was quieter which was good for my head.

The waitress took pity on me and was filling up my glass of water every few minutes, I was expecting her to offer me an anadin.

I ordered a London Pride Pale Ale, which was supposed to level out my blood-alcohol level. It worked but it took me forever to finish that glass.

The breakfast was a sight for sore eyes. In no order of excellence were a Smoked Bacon Chop, Sausages, Bubble and Squeak, Trotter Baked Beans, Fried Eggs, Bury Black Pudding, Bone Marrow Trotter, Grilled Mushrooms, Roast Tomatoes, Good Toast and Gravy. I think that was all we had. Damn my memory is still there.

The waitress suggested to us to have the black pudding with a dab of English mustard and some malt vinegar. It kicked arse. Never thought of using malt vinegar on anything but chips. What a philistine I am.

I have to say that was one hell of a brekkie. Maybe the best I have ever had. But to cut through the hangover I had it needed more grease. But if I had wanted that I would have gone to the café near to my house, which looks like a good café. One day soon.

Hawksmoor seem to be hitting all the right buttons with me at the moment. The only thing I haven’t eaten there is what they are famous for and that is their steaks. Next visit. 

Brunch @ Caravan

What can I say that hasn’t already been said about Caravan. Apart from saying the same as everyone else that it is great.

We hit Caravan around noon on a fine Sunday. The sun was out, the sky was blue and freshness was in the air. A glorious day.

The industrial interior of Caravan was heaving at the joints, but somehow we were found a good table by the window. Great for people watching. But I was distracted from my favourite past time by the fact that the girl on the table next to us kept bursting into tears over a telephone call from a soon not to be boyfriend. Good for her.

Anyhows back to the important stuff. The food and coffee. Well this is the reason why we were here, well that and just to enjoy ourselves.

The menu is pretty eclectic for brunch but damn fine reading it was. It was a toss up between the Caravan Fry-Up or the Grilled Ham, Bubble and Squeak, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. I choose the former. Good choice, but I am sure the other would have been also. It will be next time.

Lina opted for the back pudding, caramelised apples on sourdough toast topped with a fried egg. I think she would have preferred the baked eggs, but that is for next time we eat here.

The food was excellent and well cooked. The flavours contrasted and worked well with each other. A hard feat for some chefs it seems these days.

The only let down was the coffee. It was pretty average to say the least. I had to have two just to make sure. Yeah it was so so. I could of gotten a similar cup across the road at Café Nero.

But apart from that, Caravan now tops my list over the Breakfast Club in Angel for breakfast cum brunch place in north London. Rock on. 

An Italian Sunday Lunch

It’s kinda surprising that I have not posted more recipes here, as I feel I am a better cook than I am a reviewer of restaurants. If that is what I am doing. Who knows.

But I am definitely a better cook than I am a photographer. As you can see from some of my fotos on these pages.

So in a way to put matters right, I am intending to put a few more recipes on this blog. Starting with last Sunday’s lunch that we had. I had intended to cook this on Saturday night, but a cinema outing laid waste to any thoughts of cooking late at night.

So I decided to cook on a more casual basis on Sunday afternoon. We had two courses, Gnocchi in a Tomato Sauce, and Fennel Sausages and Lentils. I was in an Italian mood.

So for the Gnocchi and Tomato Sauce, just to make a note here I brought the gnocchi from Camisa and Sons in Soho. I don’t see the point sometimes of making things, when other people make then fresh for you at such low prices that it isn’t worth it.

100 – 150g Gnocchi per person

1 Tin of Italian plum tomato’s

1 Garlic clove, crushed with a back of knife and salt

4 Shallots

A few good glugs of good olive oil

Parmesan Cheese

1. Pop pot on low flame. Layer the bottom of the pan with the olive oil. Let it gently warm up.
2. Add the diced shallots, stir around and turn down to lowest possible flam and cover.
3. You will have to stir once in a while, but the lid on will help sweat the shallots. Once they are soft enough to squish between your fingers, add the garlic.
4. Stir for a minute or two until you can smell the garlic.
5. Add the tomato’s and a pinch of sugar. Stir. Bring to a simmer and lower heat and cover.
6. After about an hour or less, you will have a good thick tomato sauce perfect for some gnocchi. Season to taste and set aside.
7. Bring a pan of water to the boil. Add salt. When on a rolling boil, add gnocchi, cover until returns to a rolling boil.
8. As you do this heat another small pan with a glug of olive oil in it. Add a couple of spoonfuls of the tomato sauce to heat.
9. Drain the gnocchi and add to the tomato sauce. Increase heat to evaporate any excess liquid. Swirl or flip the pan constantly as you do not want this to stick.
10. Pour into bowls, grate over fresh Parmesan cheese. Eat and enjoy.

For the second course, a classic dish of sausages and lentils.

Olive oil to coat the pan

1 onion finely diced

A garlic clove, skinned and smashed with the side of a knife

100ml Wine

50ml water

2 Italian sausages each

100g Lentils per person

1. To cook the lentils. Warm a large pan and add some olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the diced onion. Cover, lower heat and leave to sweat, Stir once in a while.
2. Once the onion is soft, add the lentils. Raise the heat a little and stir the lentils until you think they are beginning to stick to the bottom of the pan. Cover with water. Simmer till cooked.
3. When the lentils are nearly ready, put a frying pan on the heat. Add more olive oil and the garlic clove.
4. Cook for a minute or two then add the fennel sausages. Brown on all sides. Add the wine and let it bubble up for a few minutes. Add the water. Cover and cook on a gentle heat for about 10 – 15 minutes.
5. With a fork, mash up the garlic. Season.
6. Put the lentils in a warm dish, add the sausages then pour over the garlicky winey sauce. Sprinkle with some chopped parsley y voila. Enjoy.

We absolutely love this dish, and it is a perfect main course for anytime of the year, but works wonders on the soul on a cold autumn day. Enjoy.