loobcom's Profile
If you only eat out once in Cape Town... 95 on Keerom
....and by UK standards, very reasonable, three of us went through the menu with wine and desert wine for the equivalent of £90!
My only criticism, and this applies to 99% of Cape Town restaurants, the waitrons know nothing about the food or wine they are serving. Only at La Colombe did we encounter knowledgeable waitstaff.
Regarding, the much-praised Willoughby's, I was deeply underwhelmed - Crab Stick Nigeri? No thank you!
Blood oranges [London]
meant to be in season Jan to Mar but can't find them in London. Has anyone seen them?
American-style hot dogs in London?
Haven't Hawksmoor announced that they will be including a dog on the menu of their new Covent Garden branch?
Anyone been to New Spitalfields Market?
Its very easy. Get up early. Be prepared for minimum orders. Take cash. Be fleet of foot to avoid being run over by the barrows.
Stroud Green Road [London]
I haven't been there for a while (Chez Liline) but I remember (apart from setting fire to the menu) excellent fish curry, stunningly fresh grouper and a superb and intensely garlicky fish soup.
At Dotori, I enjoyed a deliciously spicy fish stew and a very diverse and fresh seaweed salad with 6 different kinds of marine algae and a wonderful subtle dressing.
Stroud Green Road [London]
I often work up in Highgate and find myself navigating Stroud Green Road en route.
Its seems to be particularly fertile ground for pre and post work meals.
I have particularly enjoyed the following.
Chez Liline - an old favourite Mauritian fish restaurant.
Cats an interesting and competent Thai Restaurant.
Pelek - Good quality oshkabisi
Dotori - a wonderful little Korean place in a grim position
I have also heard good things about Jai Krishna Indian Vegetarian, but have yet to try it.
Pelek
Hoffy's Antwerp
Hoffy's in Lange Kiewitstraat was mentioned to me as a place of kosher excellence. I am not sure if it quite lived up to that.
The system is that you order your food from a long cold counter. It is then re-heated and served up to you either in a corridor-like room or in a large room at the back. On my visit the more comfortable back room was occupied by a business meeting, so I sat in the corridor.
I started with the consomme with kneidlach and lokshen which lacked depth of flavour and was barely warm.
Next I had the meat plate, a huge mound of schnitzel enough to feed three, said to be their speciality which was accompanied by a massive mixed salad.
The salad was good and varied, the schnitzel may have been good at the time it was originally cooked, but by the time it had resided in the cold cabinet and then presumably blasted in the microwave, it tasted only of cardboard.
Would I go back or recommend Hoffy's, er no.
Cider in London pubs?
The Bree Louise 69 Cobourg St, NW1 just west of Euston Station seems to have a great range of ciders.
I was there yesterday and asked for a recommendation. The bar person immediately gave us six little tasters.
Also enjoyed some great cider at The Green Man in Riding House St, Fitzrovia
best indian food in london?
Reading about Farhana here and on another blog, I took my son there for dinner last week. The complete absence of other diners and my instincts should have prevented me from entereing. Unfortunately this was not the case.
and I did not heed the alarm bells that were ringing in my head.
Shortly after ordering, the waiter appeared and told us that he was not sure whether the meat he had was lamb or beef. This should have been a further warning.
By this time, humour and cheerfulness had taken over and the knowledge that sometimes in life you have to eat _ _ _ _ and I suppose that it was just as well done here than anywhere else.
So the food arrived. It was abominable as expected. We left without touching it. Without being asked, perhaps through pangs of guilt, the waiter had as some recompense, already reduced the bill by one third.
Sadly, during the 40 minutes or so we spent there, not one other customer entered, nor did the phone ring. This should been another warning.
I have a feeling, the favourable reviews that are popping up here and elsewhere are, how can I put it kindly, rather fanciful.
JFores, spend you cash elsewhere.
Avoid.
McCann's Irish Steel Cut Oats for One?
I adore McCanns with Tehina or Peanut Butter and ripe banana. Celestial!
Talk to me about Watford
I need somewhere decent for dinner in or around Watford. Price and cuisine unimportant. Somewhere cozy, where the food is goodish.
Thanks and may peace be upon you.
Macrobioticafe, Primrose Hill/Camden, London
I must go and try this place. This must be the only macrobiotic cafe now in London. I used to love the restaurant in the East-West Centre on Old Street, but that closed many years ago.
Coffee in Leeds
Yes the kiosk you are talking about is definitely the best and only stella coffee in Leeds. Having said that, I have also had good experiences lately at both Bowery Visual Arts and the Cross Keys.
Help - overwhelmed with choice of restaurants in London
Harters, That is what it cost to eat in the Gaucho. I don't go there anymore because of issues with quality, cost and the over-zealous upselling of the wait staff. I had a particularly embarrassing instance of this up-selling one evening at the Hampstead branch, I complained vehemently and the entire meal for 3 was refunded.
I am doing most of my steak eating these days at Goodmans and have built up a great relationship with the manager and the chef. They have gone out of their way to accommodate my requests.
The Hawksmoor is still a favourite because there you can get a great cocktail too.
Help - overwhelmed with choice of restaurants in London
Didn't eat there but had a nose around in 'River Plate' the Argentinian Steak place in The Calls Leeds. How can they cook steak on an electric hotplate?
Decidedly unimpressed.
Felafel for 30 people
I looking for a recipe that will feed felafel to 30 people. Any ideas?
Help - overwhelmed with choice of restaurants in London
Harters, why don't you consider eating your meat at one of the other well-thought of steak establishments.
By all means go to Gaucho for ice cream.
Best Turkish food in London?
My latest favourite Turkish is the huge, bustling, noisy Caravan restaurant. But its in North London. North of Green Lanes, north of Tottenham. Its so north that it is actually north of the North Circular Road in a place called Edmonton. In fact, if you drove a little further north, you would find yourself in Hertfordshire.
The cavernous dining hall contains scores of happy Turks sitting around tables groaning beneath the weight of platters of grilled lamb, in all of its many guises. No part of the animal is wasted!
The grill is so massive that it is presided over by not one, but two Oshkabisi Meisters.
It is cheap, excellent and well worth the journey.
A side benefit of visiting the Caravan is that there is a branch of The Turkish Food Centre just across the road. A sizeable supermaket where everything from the Levant may be purchased.
Chez Liline, Finsbury Park, London
There is an honesty about this restaurant that I like very much.
Five or more years ago it was almost always packed. On the last two visits we were alone in the restaurant and I don't understand why. The fish is always fresh and the wonderful combination of French, African and Indian influences is still apparent.
On a blind date a few years ago I set fire to the menu which certainly broke the ice, if nothing else!
I would be happy to go back there any time.
New Khybar UK (Peshwari) on Barking Rd [London]
Not exactly. He was extremely welcoming.
I think that he was merely seeking to determine that if we were looking for a Chicken Tikka Masala, then we might want to go elsewhere!
New Khybar UK (Peshwari) on Barking Rd [London]
There cannot be too many places where two people can eat tasty food for less than £8.00.
As Justin said, its ultra-friendly, although not, in my opinion, as much as a destination as Thattukada.
When we first arrived, the owner tried to talk us out of eating there on the grounds of it being 'too authentic', but as soon as I explained who recommended it, he became more enthusiastic about us eating there and within a few minutes a large quality of Chapli Kebabs began to arrive with rice, bread and a kofte curry.
The bill was embarrassingly small.
New Khybar UK (Peshwari) on Barking Rd [London]
Barking Road is a long road, could you give a number or cross street?
Anything nice to eat in Archway? London
............and Leeds!
Bull and Last sounds good. Thanks for rec!
Anything nice to eat in Archway? London
For the next six months I'll be working one day per week in Archway. On first glance it seems to be a culinary desert.
Please prove me wrong.
[NB I already know about Crystal, The Thai restaurant down Holloway Road and The Parsee up on Highgate Hill]
Dinings, Harcourt St, London W1
I read about this tiny restaurant on the excellent bellaphon blog http://bellaphon.blogspot.com/.
We turned up there this early evening expecting there to be not a chance of a table, but as luck would have it we were could have a table for 90 minutes.
Very impressed, especially with the Iberian pork and all of the other stuff that would cost a fortune at NOBU. Apparently, there is a NOBU connection there somewhere. Their fish supplier, or something.
Anyway its good, but small.
IN PRAISE OF TOMOE
Thanks oonth for recommending the Atari Ya Sushi Bar in Vivian Avenue. Just so impressed with the quality and the prices when compared to City/West End places.
Adored the seaweed salad.
Two people can eat very well for under £40 (with no alcoholic beverages)
This has come at a time in my life when I have to visit Hendon once a week. Now I will incorporate a visit to the Atari Ya Sushi Bar.
Anything else good happening in Hendon?
Anyone been to Sedap on Old Street, London?
Love the char kway teow, but wish there was more of it. The portions seem small. Are they?
