A little bit of NYC in Covent Garden

Shake Shack open its doors mid last year, I think, in Covent Garden and it's taken me this long to pop along and see if they measured up to the local competition and the original in New York.

A Rant

I’ve waited several weeks before I could put finger to keyboard and rant about an experience we had at Mishkins.
I feared that before now I would have just gone off on one and ended up really bitching and being hateful, which I’m not but it was a shit experience.

Great food, bad service @ Mishkin's

Mishkin’s has been at the top of my list ever since it opened in November last year, but for some reason or other we just never ever managed to pay it a visit.

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.

Great Queen Street – A Wonderful Return

There is something about the Great Queen Street Restaurant that gives me this feeling that I should only eat there in the colder months.

To me it doesn’t come across as a summer or spring eatery. It’s more suited to those darker winter cold months.

Could it be the dark interior, the dark furnishings or the fact that the menu is so winter, with big man sized pies and unxious stews and proper man cuts of steak. Or is it the oh so French wine list that screams to me of winter.

As you can tell I have only ever ate here in the winter months. I’m pretty sure I’ve never even seen a summer menu here. I wonder what it is like.

But as winter was well and truly upon us, the thought of the Great Queen Street came alive into my mind and I so had to return to see if it was as good as I remember it.

To cut a long story short. Yes it was. Nothing has changed in the year since I last ate here. The walls are still dark, the place is still packed and so damn cosy.

We sat a the bar this time, a new sensation on me, as it was jamming with groups of friends and couples staring longingly into each others eyes. The place has that affect.

Now what to order. This night we were lucky enough to see steak and chips for 2 on the menu. Were we in luck or what.

The steak in question was the Onglet, or to some the hanger steak. This offaly beefy cut, which has become one of my fave cuts from East London Steak of late. But more on that at a later date. Hopefully.

The steak was cooked to a perfect medium rare. Anything else and it would have been like eating a pair of old school shoes.

The chips were chunky and plentiful. The béarnaise sauce was tart and a faint taste of anise. I would have preferred tad more. But I’m just a real picky so and so. I think it was making at least 3 or 4 litres of hollandaise sauce a day for so bloody long that has made me so picky on it. But it was good, it wasn’t mine, but it was good.

Maybe The Great Queen Street has been doing good ales forever, but this is the first time I have ever seen them or ordered a pint. I always go straight for a bottle of heavy red to flow with my normally heavy wintery food.

As always The Great Queen Street restaurant is an underrated gem of a place that sadly I only ever seem to visit in winter. This really must change, but to the next cold snap.

I is for Indonesia @ Bali Bali

Well this train is back in full swing now, after a long while with no outings, we have two in quick succession.

All in all most of the places we have visited on this mad hop around London have been pretty good, some excellent, some so so. But Bali Bali unfortunately has to be the lowest point so far. I hope none get any lower than this.

I initially tried to get everyone to head to my favourite Pizza Pub in Islington, but this was rejected out right, as I think it was not exotic enough for some people.

So India then. I thought this was a sure thing, but surprisingly most of the others are not particularly keen on Indian food. I mean what is this world coming to.

So after a brief mention of Indonesia at the end of the email. Voila, guess where we were going then.

After more chit chat about the merits of the small band of Indonesian restaurants in London, Bali Bali was chosen and booked.

I was hoping, just hoping that they would have Babi Guling on the menu, but this wasn’t a Balinese (Hindu) restaurant, but more of an Indonesian (Muslim) cum Malay joint. Shame, but oh well. Will just have to head back to Ubud for that. Now, that I would be more than happy to do.

My first impression of Bali Bali as we walked through the door, was that it reminded me of a run of the mill tourist restaurant in Bali. Guess what, the food was the same as well.

Strangely on the menu there are two sections for the starters. The first part containing more run of the mill dishes like, soups and other delights such as prawn crackers and spring rolls.

On the other section are the “Chef Specialities”. Now these beauties were actually the same price as some of the mains. Why this is I do not know. Well makes good business sense, as you make more money on the starters than the mains.

My starter of Sato Ayam (Chicken soup) was bland. The shredded chicken was dry and tasteless, and the supposed coconut base stock for the soup was nowhere to be seen. Very poor.

The large tasteless Indonesian prawn crackers were served with a dull, industrial standard sweet chilli sauce.

The starters form the “Chef’s Specialities” did not look that impressive at all. The deep fried battered prawns, which were served on a giant platter, I guess to try and justify their huge price tag were greasy and not very appetising.

The only thing in Bali Bali’s favour was the Spring Roll, (yes only one) it did look homemade and not brought that morning from a China Town grocer.

As there was no pork on the menu, I went for my old favourite of Rendang Daging. I love this dish, it really is one of my all time loved dishes.

I mean what could be better than a heavenly plate of beef cooked for hours slowly in coconut and spices, to end up with melt in your mouth meat in a thick brown slightly picante sauce. Life is good.

Unfortunately Bali Bali’s version was anything but. The sauce had the right consistency and the meat was soft, but alas it was dry and overcooked. The sauce was sadly lacking any real heat. It was just disappointing big time.

The Nasi Goreng (Indonesia’s National Dish) was basically served as a Chinese style egg fried rice with a few slices of cucumber and tomato on the side. A real poor show.

To be honest I really shouldn’t have expected wonders from Bali Bali, as on our month long visit to a few of the islands of Indonesia, we were not overly impressed with the food there.

There were exceptions of course. Most notably the Babi Guling we had many a time at Ibu Oka in Ubud. This was out of this world, and still rates as one of the best meals I’ve ever had. But this was one of the few exceptions we found.

This is kinda surprising as with the multitude of influences Indonesia has, the food should be up there with the best of them. Or maybe we were very unlucky and just headed into the wrong joints.

I think a return visit is going to have to happen to try and find the best dishes there. Not to Bali Bali, but to Indonesia. 

Little Delights @ da Polpo

After 3 weeks of traveling around rural China and eating a mammoth amount of noodle soups, we were in the mood for some food that was as far away from China as we could get.

It was almost a year ago since we first ate at Polpo, and having tried 2 of the 3 later incarnations of this ever so popular and cool mini chain of small eateries, I thought it was time to try the latest opening. da Polpo.

There is not much I can say about da Polpo that hasn’t already been said by every blogger in and around London. So all I will say is that it is bigger and has a slightly more faux warehouse look than the other sites. But still nice nonetheless.

But onto the food as that is all this is about. The concept of small plates is again flourishing here, but more emphasis is placed on pizzettas (small pizzas to the unknowing) and meatballs. I like.

So we ordered a couple of the pizzattas. A white anchovy and a pork and pepper one. Man had I missed pizza. I grew up as a kid disliking anchovies immensely, but my wife has got me addicted to them. Light and fishy these fresh buggers were. I just wished there were more of them on the little pizza.

The pork and pepper was jammed packed with wafers of thin slices of ham and jalapenos. Not sure how Italian the jalapeno is, but it was bloody good and added a slightly spicey note that my buds had gotten used to in Hunan.

We also ordered the cauliflower fontina gratin and a plate of spicy pork and fennel meatballs. Again this was needed to jolt us away from China.

I cannot remember when I last cooked cauliflower cheese, and this Italian version with its creamy fontina cheese has made me want to cook it again. The gratin needed a bit more time under the grill, but the creamy cheese and al dente cauliflower made up for that.

The meatballs were good as well with their heavy notes of fennel. Something else I haven’t had in an age as well. I really must widen my eating habits.

I like da Polpo, not just for the food, but because it is larger than the other 3 and you have more of a chance of getting a table without the obligatory 1 hour queue. Although that is always good when you have a bottle of white to see you through. 

Bombay Cafe @ Dishoom

I never really fancied eating at Dishoom for some reason, maybe because I thought it was going to be a supped up modern version of a local Tandoori, but then I tried their Ruby Murray at the pop-up on the South Bank and was hooked. It really was only going to be a matter of time before we ventured into their Covent Garden branch.

It styles itself on an old time Bombay café, which I have eaten at a few way back when in my traveller days, before age and comfort became more of a priority than simply travelling. How I miss those days.

The ones I remember in Mumbai served a type of Anglo Indian cuisine, that wasn’t too different from school dinners, but with a good touch of spice.

Hours you could sit there sipping on a chai or a beer reading a book, chatting to friends or general strangers looking to pass the time, with those rickety old ceiling fans buzzing away in a vain attempt to keep you cool in the Mumbai humidity.

The old style Bombay café is a piece of history, of a bygone era that will never return, except in a few dark corners where some people can reminisce on past glories that shall never be seen again.

Dishoom attempt to bring this to London, doesn’t really work for me. Their décor is too clean, too clinical, too manufactured, and too modern to be a Bombay cafe. It’s false and I wasn’t impressed.

The menu has also been Londonfied to give it something different, which it does, but deep down it is still the same old food, just served a tad differently.

The House Black Daal or Daal Makhani was creamy and had a deep unxious flavour to them. They were good, not the best I’ve had but still very good. It’s kinda sad, but I always judge an Indian restaurant by its daal.

The lamb biriyani came in its own little pot with a small amount of dough around the lid and edge of the pot. The rice was well cooked and seasoned well. The lamb however was a tad dry, and made me wonder if they had been cooked together or just mixed in at the last minute.

Thing was at our monthly meeting at work the following Friday, we had 3 different biriyani’s for lunch. Lamb, chicken and a veg and all 3 tasted much better than Dishoom’s own, and that was from a small hole in the wall in Southall.

The Paneer Tikka was nice and fluffy and served with a small bunch of wilting herbs and a lemon. We asked when we ordered if it was dry or came with a sauce. It was dry we were told. Our waiter was asked if we could have a small bowl of sauce to go with. It’s how the wife likes it. Our waiter just said “no”, and said we should order a curry to go with. I could see from her eyes, that this guy was not going to get a tip now, no matter how nice he was from here on now, and he didn’t. I think he could tell as well, as he never really tried from then on. Smart guy.

Dishoom has a nice vibe about it, and apart from the business like attitude of the place it is ok. Better than I thought it would be, but still just a jazzed up modern take on an Indian restaurant.

I’m not sure whether I would return or not. It’s a shame the pop up is going to close soon, as that is worth returning to.

Sitaaray - An Invite to an Indian Buffet

Not only were we lucky enough to be invited to Chor Bizarre, but we were also invited to eat at Sitaaray in Covent Garden. Double luck.

The two restaurants in this Indian based group couldn’t be more different. Chor Bizaare is your more typical Indian style restaurant, but aimed at a client with a big bulgy wallet. Whilst Sitaaray is aimed at your group of friends on a good night out with a definite slimmer budget. As the all you can eat buffet is only £18 per person (up to the end of August, where it will rise to around £23).

The inside of the restaurant is a shrine to Bollywood and its stars. The walls are lined with photos of the more famous actors and actresses over the years. Quite a few of them have visited the restaurant and have their photo plastered on a special section by the stairs.

The formula is quite straightforward. You pay your money and choose either the veg or non-veg menu, and then you are get given a hell of a lot of food, which if you can manage more of any of the dishes you can ask for them. It really is all-you-can-eat, but the quality is so much more than any other similar place I can think of.

We opted not to go for the Bollywood named cocktails that takes up a hell of a lot of the drinks menu. It may have been fun actually, but I’m still old skool and Indian food for me only goes with beer. The wife had a few glasses of merlot that she says worked quite well with the food.

For starters we had some crushed papad and a trio of chutneys. I got so used to sour pickles in India that I relish them when they arrive, but this now means I find all mango chutneys so sweet. Too sweet in fact that I cannot eat them. They used to be my favourite, but give me a sour lime pickle anytime.

Then the food started, oh how I wished it would stop at one point. The menu reads as follows.

Dahi Batata Puri, crispy savory balls stuffed with potato, yoghurt and chutneys.

Pepper Shikampuri, pan fried ground lamb kebab stuffed with mint and peppers.

Pudina, char grilled fish tikkas in a paste of mint and green chilies.

Amritsari, crispy batter fried fish flavoured with carom seeds.

Chicken Dill Tikka, creamy chicken morsels flavored with garlic and dill leaves.  

Chicken Achaari, char grilled chicken flavored with pickling spices.

Lamb Seekh, juicy lamb mince kebab topped with red onions and coriander cooked in a tandoor oven.

Lamb Keema Samosa, deep fried savoury patties stuffed with a spicy lamb mixture.

Chicken Chakundari, char grilled chicken legs in a spicy red marinade with beetroot.

Chicken Tikka Masala, grilled chicken cooked in rich & creamy tomato gravy flavored with fenugreek

Vegetable Nilgiri Kurma, seasonal vegetables cooked along with coriander, mint in a coconut based gravy

Dal Makhni, buttery black lentils simmered for an age, finished with tomatoes, ginger and cream.

Plus all this was served with an assortment of breads and a bowl of pulao rice. We couldn’t finish it all. I now wished I’d asked for it to be put into a plastic tub to take home with me for lunch the next day.

Most of the food was damn good, but one or two dishes were not very good at all. The Amritsari was too greasy and was not nice on the palette at all.

Whereas the small puri ball was one of the highlights of the meal, along with the spicy lamb samosa. For me it was the Dal makhni, ooh those black creamy, heart clogging lentils were a real joy to eat. Damn they were good.

We couldn’t manage any pudding. I think it would have resembled that scene from Alien. Not a pretty sight.

So if you are up for somewhere different to go on a works night out, or with friends then I would definitely recommend Sitaaray as a place to go.

Assa - My First Taste of Korea

What I know about Korean food you could write on a back of a postage stamp and still have room to write all I know about West African food as well. Ie squat.

So this is not going to be a post about my amazing new discovery and how I am now an expert and all knowledgeable on Korean food. No this is going to be about a simple bowl of spicy beef soup and other waffle.

I know nothing about Korea, except they make bloody good horror and psycho thrillers and have some rather graphic food scenes in their films. Oh and of course MASH, which was most of the West’s perception of Korea in the 70’s and early 80’s.

I know a few people, who’ve been to Korea, but they have all also visited Japan first, and I think they have all compared the two, and Japan has always been the better of the two. But I want to meet someone who has been to Korea and not Japan to tell me what a wonderful place it is to visit.

I remember watching an episode of Diary of a Foodie about Korea and it looks fantastic, with food ranging from simple rustic food to complex dishes fit for an Emperor. Definitely worth checking out the series if you can.

So on a recent mid week visit to central London we ended up outside a trio of Korean restaurants close to Tottenham Court Road station at lunchtime.

For some reason the other restaurants were empty, except for Assa. Now for me this speaks volumes for a place, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why this is, especially as everyone inside was Korean. No guesses where we ate.

As we had to head off to apply for our Chinese visa, we could really just grab and go. So we both ordered the Beef Spicy soup. I needed something with a kick, and the wife hates tofu. So all other soups were off the menu.

The broth wasn’t as hot as I was expected, but it got hotter as I slowly worked my way through it to the bottom. I loved the deep red color of the soup and the beef was super tender and so flavourful.

The soup came with a bowl of rice, which after living in Colombia and visiting ever other country throughout Latin America, I’ve gotten used to having rice with my soups, and actually kind of prefer it really. It’s a good way of beefing one up shall we say.

I’m not a fan other anything but wooden chopsticks, so to be given flat metal chopsticks was a tad of a pain. It took me the whole meal before I could get used to them.

I do love the down to earthness of this place, it has no pretence it does what it says on the tin. Good honest Korean food at a good price. We will be returning to try out the rest of the menu, and improve my lack of knowledge of Korean food, except for the live octopus of course.

Abeno Too

I’ve tried to write a review of this place for ages now. But somehow I cannot get the words out.

So I will just say, Abeno Too is a nice place, has a good buzzy vibe, and sells ok savoury pancakes or Okonomiyaki, if you want to be picky.

The staff are friendly and good humoured and do a pretty good job of cooking your pancakes for you. Well it is not rocket science really.

But in the end for what you get it is pretty over priced, but we are in Soho/Covent Garden/China Town. Not to sure really on where to place it. So beggars cannot be choosers.

It’s good to go if you are with a group of mates wanting to try something different, and have never had Japanese savoury pancakes before. I had, and the novelty wore off pretty quick.

PS – The photo’s are from a Okonomiyaki I ate at once in Nara a few years ago.

B is for Belgium @ Belgo Centraal

Well this madcap adventure continues into round 2 with the letter B. We had many choices with this letter. Belarus; Bulgaria; Benin; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Belgium; Brasil; Bolivia and Burmese to name but a few.

After much deliberation over the countries we narrowed it down to Belgium, Bulgaria and Burma. After more deliberation we decided on Belgium, as only 1 of us (me) had been to Belgium, and only two of us had eaten at a Belgium restaurant before. Bulgaria was discounted as two of us had eaten at a Bulgarian place quite recently, and the cuisine is very similar to Polish, which is going to be P. Well we have one Pole amongst us, so it has to be. In that case then, C is gonna have to be Colombia as 50% of us are.

Burma was discounted as only I am a white imperialist, and still call it Burma. Not Myanmar. So that could be M I guess. This seems to be sorting it self out by itself.

I only know of a few places that do Belgium food. Many that does Belgium beer, but not many that do the food. Well when I say many, I just mean the different branches of Belgos.

I do enjoy eating at Belgos even though the food isn’t brilliant, and it will never win any awards for culinary excellence, but it is still quite good for what it is. But the main attraction here is the beer, although the menu does seem to have shrunk since my last visit.

We all jumped straight in for some beers and food. We were told we had the table for 2 hours, which in Belgos is a pretty long time. Between us we had a beef carbonade, the spit roasted chicken with ginger and chilli sauce, moules Florentine and the moules mariniere, but most importantly a Judas, 2 Kwaks and a Cristal. Nothing is more important than those fine Belgium beers.

Even though I am not religious, and really have a disdain for the Church. You have to hand it to those monks who in ways of making money and of course making sure the local population had clean drinking liquid to guzzle on, made some of the best beer on the planet. God bless them.

I never got to try the beef carbonade or the moules Florentine, but I was reliably informed they were very very good. Remember they are non-sharers. The spit roasted chicken with ginger and chilli sauce tastes as it always does and should. It’s a posher version of a Nandos chicken, as Nandos unfortunately do not have ginger and chilli sauce. Maybe they should, as it would save me a lot of cash.

My moules mariniere were made with cream and a little to much of it was added. I think the chef has a twitch as he was pouring it into the pan. But otherwise the mussels were plump and well cooked. Well you’d have to be one shit chef to fuck up cooking mussels wouldn’t you.

I like eating at Belgos. It is as good as you make it really. It’s a good time place to go with friends, have a nice meal, drink a few good beers with a good vibe, then go off somewhere else to finish the night off, as it is rather expensive, and for beers the Lowlander is slightly cheaper and has more choice.

Now looking forward to C. Although I can be sure Canada won’t be winning. I think it’s time to hit Africa for the next one.