Viet Grill - A Revisit

Shamelessly it had been quite a while since the last visit to Viet Grill, a long bloody time.

This has come about that we are trying, but failing to eat at a few regular places and then at some old favourites once in a while.

Sadly the old fave’s are being missed big time due to this new practice, but until that £100,000 job comes along then this is how it has to be. But we’re slowly doing the rounds again.

L is for Lebanon @ Yalla Yalla

Somehow we’ve managed to get to L with completely stopping, well we had some breaks but part and parcel of the course really. We are in this for the long haul, so upward and onward.

There really was no competition really with the letter L. It was Lebanese or bust. It was the obvious choice really.

Some More Coffee Shops, this time in London

I am currently in coffee heaven. The amount of new and good, small independent coffee shops that are popping up in London these days, is blowing my mind.

Everywhere I look I’m finding great new shops, some are just serving good coffee, in others there are people who have a real passion, a desire to serve you the best cup of coffee ever, plus dispense advise on which brew is best for you and how to brew it.

Street Food with Pizza Pilgrims

So many times I had wanted to try the pizzas from Pizza Pilgrims, but somehow I was always drawn to those delicious baguettes of Banh Mi 11.

But this time I was determined to give them a go, so walking past my favourite stall, I somehow pushed myself further on down Berwick market past those wonderful looking banh mi. Somehow.

Golden Union Fish Bar

Golden Union is a pretty decent chippie in Soho, where decent chippies are a rare commodity these days.

The restaurant itself is modern, clean, slick with lot’s of friendly waitresses and during the week caters to the needy office crowd in the seated area at the back.

Lobster in a roll @ Luke's

I love short menus. I hate long menus. Long menus normally mean the dishes are brought in and normally of a lower quality than if they were cooked on site. Well that does depend on the chef of course.

Some New York Coffee Shops

I always seem to map out where I can get a good cup of coffee wherever I travel to these days.

Although on that 10 week trip through 5 Asian countries with work, a year and a half a go, I never drank such bad coffee on a regular basis before. I vowed it would never happen again.

Saying that, I remember in Chile when I asked for an espresso in a coffee shop, they gave me a tin of Nescafe and a jug of hot water to make my own. Unreal. Apparently I found out Chile is bad for coffee, where as its neighbour and/or enemy, Argentina is quite good.

Bánh Mi

I still have fond memories of one of the first Banh Mi’s I ever ate. A lovely Vietnamese family, who had escaped their home country at some point and settled in Vientiane, owned it the capital of Laos.

Pitt Cue Co.

I’ve finally made it to the permanent base for the Pitt Cue Crew in their new premises in Central London.

I’d eaten at the food truck under Hungerford Bridge a few times last year and was more or else impressed with their food that they managed to deliver.

London is not known as an epicentre for good barbecued food. An Englishman’s knowledge of food cooked on a charcoal grill is normally undercooked burnt sausages on a cold, wet, windy Sunday afternoon.

The locals from the American South and Mid West would wage war on what we call barbecue. But we are a slow nation and new things like this take their time to come to us. But how many people would want to wait 24 hours to grill a brisket or 6 hours to slowly smoke some ribs in their back garden. Not many.

Burger Heaven @ MEATmarket

Having spent a week in New York sampling the city’s finest burgers at several of its better outlets. The Shake Shack, the Burger Joint and the interesting Corner Bistro, I’ve come to realise that sometimes less is more.

New York Tales : Chelsea Market

2 years ago when we were first in New York returning from our year in Colombia, we found Chelsea Market and loved it.

It was relatively unfrequented back then, and finding somewhere to eat was not a problem. Rolls on 2 years, and all this has changed. Chelsea Market is definitely one of the more popular places to eat on this side of Manhattan.

New York Tales : Amy Ruth's in Harlem

Walking around Harlem you can see the majesty it once had, the magnificent buildings and townhouses give an inkling into its once great past and hopefully resurgent future.

It’s a shame we came to Harlem midweek and not on a weekend, as the mood was slightly subdued than what we were expecting, but this did mean we were able to get a table at the institution known as Amy Ruth’s. So not all bad.

New York Tales : The Caracas Arepa Bar

After living in Colombia for nearly a year and being married to one for over 10 years, I have come to appreciate the arepa.

I have to admit it’s not my favourite food. I find it quite bland, but that may just be the Colombian arepa. Their food is rather bland anyhows.

But the wife loves them, if she could she would eat one probably twice a day everyday. Which when she is in Colombia she does.

New York Tales : Crack Pie @ The Milk Bar

The small hole in the wall that is Momofuku’s Milk Bar in the East Village was not what we were expecting.

For some reason after eating in the noodle bar a couple of times, and seeing the other restaurants I was expecting something similar.

So the surprise of finding a small shop with some other bleary eyes people queuing for one thing and one thing only was a surprise but a good one.

New York Tales : John's Pizzeria

New Yorkers claim they have the best pizza or pie (as they call it) in the world. Well they have quite a long tradition of it, with a gentleman called Gennaro Lombardo opening the first Pizzeria in Little Italy in 1905.

We were tempted to sample the pizza’s at Lombardo’s, but for some reason we just never got round to it. As is.

As we were staying quite close to West Village, John’s Pizzeria’s name crept up when we asked the hotel staff where we could get some good pizza close by.