Thai Kitchen 101

It had been a while since my last visit to Thai Kitchen 101, a great Thai restaurant that specialises in north eastern cuisine, and an odd set off events set this encounter into action.

A drunken night at Mandalay Way on the Edgware Road, a small no thrills restaurant that I heartedly recommend you all visit, but make a reservation, it’s small and very popular.

J is for Japanese @ Tosa

I cannot even remember what year it was when my one and only visit to Tosa was. Maybe it was in 2006 or 2007? Who knows? But ever since then I have constantly said “I have to return”. But alas I never ever did.

But ever since we began this A – Z of London restaurants J was always going to be Japanese and Tosa was always going to get a mention.

I was thinking that it would have been pretty predictable to go for your normal sushi bar. I am really wanting to try Atari, but kinda nervous as Sushi Hiro could be a hard act to follow. But this time I wanted something different.

I kind of stacked Tosa in my favour as I wrote a gleaming email about it, whilst the other options didn’t quite get a glowing report.

Tosa specialises in grilled meats on sticks over charcoal. This we had many a time in bars in Japan, especially Tokyo, which after dark were full of salary men relaxing after a hard days work with a few beers with some co workers and a few grilled sticks of meat. Hey that I think should be everyone’s after work chill out.

Tosa’s menu is pretty vast, and where the grilled skewers take centre stage, there are some of the favourites that will satisfy all tastes if the skewers do not float your boat.

I wanted one thing and one thing only. Yes, what they are famous for.

I think between the four of us we ordered a vast amount of food that just kept coming and coming. Yes this was dangerous territory as if I have had another beer or two we would have at least doubled the bill. But it would have been worth it.

As Tosa does not really do main meals as such, it’s best to order a bit of everything, which I think we did.

There are too many dishes that we ordered to go over, so my favourites were the Chicken Liver, Ox Tongue, Uzura (Quails eggs), Tebasaki (Grilled Chicken Tips). Sadly the Torikawa (Grilled Chicken Skin) was unavailable.

There is something I love about grilled offal. Ever since my first trip to Argentina and eating grilled innards, I have become addicted.

The Grill Master cooked everything I tasted to perfection, and the liver was perfectly juicy. Delish, really delish.

I was really tempted to have the Zaru Soba (Cold Soba Noodles with a Bonito based Special Sauce), but I think I had ordered enough for this time and the noodles may have pushed me over the edge.

I noticed on the website afterwards that if you send them your email address, there are promotions to be had, like 15% off the food bill this month for Sunday to Thursday evenings. Nice. That means you can order extra skewers.

Next time I’m going all out on the grilled fish. Let’s just hope it isn’t another 5 or 6 years till my next visit.

Tosa is definitely worth a special visit to this part of West London.

Thai Kitchen 101

I’ve been meaning to step inside the fabled doors of Thai Kitchen 101 for many a year. But on so many occasions either Green Chilli (now sadly closed) or Mahdi, (still one of my favourite restaurants on the planet) always got in the way.

Thai Kitchen 101 was starting to become a holy grail to me. Always in reach, but yet unattainable. A bit like Uyuni in Bolivia with my wife.

So after doing the umpteenth quote for holidays to Burma that day, I really couldn’t be arsed to go home and cook. I needed someone else to cook for me, plus I was hungry and I had to eat now now like. There was no way I was going to survive that 90 minute trip home. So after deliberating for a while and ticking off every place between my work and Hammersmith, (as Soho was too far) I was left with only a few options.

Mahdi is always on these lists, but I wanted something with a kick to it. Maybe it was doing all those quotes to Asian countries that I needed a little bit of Asia that night. So this ruled out the Chiswick branch of Franco Manca, maybe Tosa, hmmm could be, may not have the spice I wanted, but it was definitely Asian. Then it dawned on me. An idea was forming in my mind, it was hurting. It’d been a while since I last had one you see. My last great idea was to return home after 6 months in Asia instead of continuing onto China. Dohh!!! That’s why I stopped having them.

To be honest I’m not a great fan of Thai food in the UK, as a lot of what I have tried has always been watered down to suit the gentle western palette. I prefer it the Thai way, harsh and in your face and able to knock your socks off at 30 feet.

The décor inside Thai Kitchen 101 is very pink, and I mean pink, so pink in fact that it reminded me of a chavette’s boudoir.

The menu is pretty vast, which I am starting to hate in restaurants as it takes me forever to narrow down my choices, and makes me wonder how fresh the dishes really are.

The starters were really hit and miss. The hot n sour soup was more or less spot on, with nice sour notes, only needed a bit more heat to put it up there with the best of them.

The fish cakes were really bad. Actually they were pretty rubbish. Soggy, limp, greasy, lifeless and a tad rubbery. I thought I heard a ping just before they brought them out. They really had to be some of the worst fishcakes we’ve ever seen or tasted.

The mussaman curry looked like no other mussaman curry I’d ever seen before. But it tasted really good. It was a lot drier than how I prefer it. I’m still not sure what meat it was, it could have been beef or it could have been mutton. Not really sure. Let’s call it the mystery meat curry. Apart from that the textures were good and the taste was good as well, nice and mild.

The Pad Thai was not bad at all. It’s not the best pad Thai I’ve ever had, but it isn’t far off. There was a nice mix of tart tamarind, pungent fish sauce, heat from the chilli and good textural senses form the crushed peanuts and crunchy bean sprouts. All in all a very good dish. Hats off to the chef.

The service is swift and friendly and with plenty of smiles. I’m just amazed that it took me so long to come here. The next visits will be in quick succession.

Heaven @ The River Cafe

Some people can always say where they were when they heard a particular piece of news, or when a major even happened. Well on March 31^st 2004, my life changed forever. There was no major international incident, no national disaster to contend with.

It was just a simple cooked meal with the finest ingredients that Italy could offer in a trendy restaurant by the river in Hammersmith.

Up until that point fine food had never passed my lips. Years of travelling had taught me where to get good nourishing and cheap food, but fine food never came into the equation. Food with Spice had ruled my palette, as my travels up to that point had really only taken me to India, South East Asia and Central America. Heat I was used to. Perfectly cooked food with subtle seasoning I was not. It was enlightening.

What I ate that night I cannot remember, but we did have a great night, and our food lives changed forever after that experience.

We’d been back to the River Café on many an occasion, but not for the last few years. Which is a shame as I have such fond memories of the place. But my wages still seem to remain the same, whilst the cost of living has risen a lot. Plus it is not the cheapest place to eat on the planet, so now it is left to special occasions.

I’ve noticed that once in a while, especially during a slow period they will have a lunch time special of 2 courses for £22 or £28 with dessert. For the prices they charge normally off the a la carte menu, this is a steal. Although we still managed to spend over £100 on this trip. Wine, coffees etc. It all adds up in the end.

There was a fire a year or so ago, and a total refurb ensued. The end result is a very slick cool looking restaurant. They still have kept the same design of the open kitchen, which works so well. I like seeing people cooking my food, although sitting down you can only see the top half of the chefs, but they look busy. Maybe it is all an illusion and the clean cut looking people are just for show. The real work is being done by little children in the basement.

Even for a Thursday lunchtime the place was packed to the rafters. This is a very good sign, maybe other restaurants could learn from this. Lunchtime specials fill your restaurant up. It pays the bills. Take note.

The menu hasn’t really changed that much since Theo was the main man there. It’s still very peasanty Italian food, but what they do so well is treating the food with respect. Everything was and always has been spot on.

Our Primi’s were a plate of Agnoli with Veal, Rabbit and Parmesan Cheese, and the Spaghetti with crab. Both were fantastic, although portion control could have been relaxed a little. A good sign of always wanting more.

The mixture of rabbit and veal worked a treat and the pasta was so delicate, I’m sure you could have read a newspaper through it.

The Secondi’s of Oven Roasted Monkfish, Chickpeas and my Seared Calves Liver and Lentils were both really good, although I preferred my Calf’s liver and the spicy lentils. So good, so yummy. I have a thing about offal and it wins hands down everytime. We were both tempted by the lamb, but it came with cannelloni beans and neither of us were in a bean mood that afternoon.

The Lemon tart was tart and creamy as it should be. I’m not sure if they were Amalfi lemons, but they probably were. It was a nice end to a great meal.

I’m not sure how many times they do this lunchtime special, but if you visit their website once in a while it will have the details. I think this was available for a couple of months. It’s well worth taking an afternoon off work to come here.

Until next year River Café.

Mahdi - It was like coming home

I was a little apprehensive to return to Mahdi, mainly because of all the places I had eaten at before and revisited recently, they have all let me down. Badly. What if Mahdi was to do the same to me. What if it had changed. What if had gone downhill. What if… I didn’t like it anymore.

I have eaten at Mahdi more than any other restaurant in London or anywhere. I mean we are talking at least once a month, sometimes a lot more, for at least 5 years maybe more. I mean we are talking well over a 100 times. I was nervous.

Back in 1998 we went to Asia for a while and when we came back we moved to Islington for a bit, then a year in Latin America followed, and again back to North London. This meant Mahdi became a thing of the past. But as we now both work in West London, I was hoping Mahdi would be visited more often. Not quite as much as before, but maybe I was hoping for too much.

My Mahdi sits on an interesting part of King Street in Hammersmith. It’s far enough away from the shopping arcade so it is a little quiet, but not too far that people don’t know it is there.

It’s on the other corner from the cinema, and like most restaurants in this area it caters to them a lot, although unlike the other ones, Mahdi has a steady following of fans, so it doesn’t need those cinema goers to survive.

Another restaurant we used to eat a lot in this area was the Green Chilli, a fantastic Indian that unfortunately could quite never break into the market, whilst serving great contempory Indian food it was always empty. I passed it the other week and saw a big wooden door in place. It was definitely closed and for good. This saddened me.

My Mahdi is a small family run restaurant and has grown over the years. When we first started eating there all those years ago, the service was slightly erratic, but the warmness of everyone made up for any shortcomings. The décor has changed from simple to slightly more artistic. Plus they have grown into the shop next door, which gives you more space. No more waiting for tables, and a better atmosphere.

The food is simple, well cooked, well priced, large portioned and fantastic. It’s mainly made up of grilled meats served with freshly baked bread, (the oven is by the door as you walk in, so you are hooked from the off) a simple salad and/or rice. It’s mostly lamb with some chicken thrown in as well for good measure.

They also have a good selection of Persian and Near Eastern stews as well. I think I’ve tried them all. I think. Oh well I will just have to start going through the menu again to make sure.

In winter I always steer clear of the cold starters, like in summer I do not even look at the hot ones. Their hummus whilst not having tahini in it, is one of the few things on the menu I never did like. I just prefer my own. Fussy like that.

But their baby lamb kebabs are what it all about. Juicy, seasoned perfectly, cooked to the point of OMG. Utterly good.

Over the years we have got into our own little habits there. I’m more a bread and rice fan where as Lina is more salad and a little bread. They serve a creamy yoghurt sauce, which Lina drizzles over her salad, where as I pop it on my kebabs. They also give you small sachets of butter. I never knew what you were supposed to do with them, but over time I have been mixing them in with my rice. Unxious is the word, and with a shake of the chilli powder it works a treat.

Before, when we were greedy guts we used to eat everything there and then, but as now we are maturing in years and have more control. (Can’t believe I just wrote that. Me, control. Never) We take at least half home for work the next day. Perfect. Plus as it is kinda on the route home from work, I have their number in my mobile, so we can order take away and have a feast at home. Just feel sorry for the other tube passengers.

I am truly a happy man, as entering Mahdi the other week was like coming home. It felt the same, it felt comfortable. It was as if we have never been away, the food was the same, the waiters who were there from before recognised us and welcomed us back. I was a happy man. We ordered the same as before. It was as I remembered it. The meat was tender and juicy, the bread was hot from the oven, the service as ever, friendly and warm. I was a happy diner.

I am back and Mahdi never changed. Hoorah for same same. I just wish the other places I used to love wouldn’t have changed. If only.