Visiting London for 3 days - please help!!

Thanks EVERYONE for all those suggestions!! I think I will plan on going to the Borough market on Friday for lunch and then the Tate Modern as Hermano Primero suggested.

glutton - you mentioned getting a grilled chesse sandwich - is this the same place that another person mentioned on these boards as the Raclette stall? They had said to get the melted cheese sandwich - I am assuming it is the same place?

And I am super exicted about the crepe stand you mentioned as the the wedding is nearby that place and we will definetely make a stop!!

As for fish and chips - I think my husband would love that, but we have been to Ireland before and had excellent fish and chips - do they do them different or better in London?

And I am interested to see how chinese food might be different in London than California, so I will definetely check that out. zuriga1 - are they any must order items at the place you suggested: Haozhan? Does anyone have any other thoughts or suggestions for Chinese?

thansk again for all the ideas - one more question - if you were going to leave London forever - where would you go in one day for all your favorite foods?

allisonteal in U.K./Ireland

Visiting London for 3 days - please help!!

Okay - thanks! I haven't picked out where in London we will be staying - open to suggestions on that as well, but we will be doing most of the main sights - Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the City, Portobello Road on Saturday, Harrod's in Knightsbridge, Soho...all the main areas, so for suggestions in any of those places would be great!

allisonteal in U.K./Ireland

Visiting London for 3 days - please help!!

I am coming in September with my husband for a wedding and we are spending an extra few days in London. I have never been and I am soooo overwhelmed by all the food options during my research!!!

Can anyone help me in giving me suggestions of places to go - breakfast, lunch and dinner - all types of cuisine, but not too expensive - from cheap to mid price. Really just looking for the best places, but I don't always believe they have to be the most expensive.

What should I really not miss while I am here??

THANK YOU!!

allisonteal in U.K./Ireland

Nude Foods - raw cheesecake

its in the vegan section - if you go to the one on national its in a cold display case near the bread section. the one in el segundo, which i often go to is also in a cold display case near the front where the cash registers are.

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Nude Foods - raw cheesecake

these are no-cheese cheesecakes. raw food has no dairy - its like the extreme of vegan - i don't think anything is ever cooked with raw foods. the crust is made from walnuts and dates, although you can't tell - it actually tastes like a real crust. and the base of the cheesecake is cashews, but i don't taste cashews when i eat it - it just tastes like cheesecake.

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Nude Foods - raw cheesecake

OMG!! I found the most yummy amazing raw cheesecake ever - and I am not even a raw food eater. I am a meat eater, but they were handing out samples at Whole Foods and it tasted like the real thing, but its actually good for you! The flavors I tried were Pumpkin Spice (my personal fav), Vanilla, Chocolate and Raspberry. They are made out of cashews if you can believe it, but it totally tastes like cheesecake. I wish there were more companies out there like this that made food that tasted good and was good for you.

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Incanto or Quince?

Thanks everyone...it seems that I might be leaning towards Incanto. I feel like my expectations of Quince are too high and recently I have had a couple of experiences where the food does not match the price and high hopes. As of right now my expectation of Incanto are medium, so hopefully they will be exceeded:)

allisonteal in San Francisco Bay Area

Incanto or Quince?

I have a reservation at both places next Friday and can't decide which one to go to! I am visiting from LA, so won't be back for a while. Saturday dinner is at Bar Crudo, which I am very excited to try. But need to figure out Friday night - which one would you go to and what should I order?

Thanks!!

allisonteal in San Francisco Bay Area

Bastide: Counterpoint

And lets not forget I had the same expereince as Food Scrounger..so more than one person. I also mentioned a party of 6 next to me who had a horrible experience and had their entire meal comped!

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Bastide: Stay away, an unpleasant dining experience.

As you will see from my post above, Food Scrounger was not the only one who had a bad experience. And the food wasn't too fussy - it lacked depth and flavor. Sometimes we added a bit of salt and it made it better, but mostly it just felt like something was missing. Case in point, they served the pumpkin tortellini that I had heard raves about from other diners, however ours did not have the 30 year old balsamic drizzeld over it...there was nothing. Therefore, the dish was sort of bland and boring. I felt like I could made this dish on my own without a second thought. And while I don't mind a long dinner...when it takes 4.5 hours and it is not evenly paced, it becomes annoying and thus diminishes the dining experience.

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Bastide: Stay away, an unpleasant dining experience.

I want to also add that a large group of people next to us had an even worse experience than us. I did not hear all the details, but one woman's husband actually left and didn't come back! All I know if that there was a lot of apologizing from various people at the restaurant and they had their ENTIRE meal comped!!

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Bastide: Stay away, an unpleasant dining experience.

I was there last night as well and had a very similar expereince. From the beginning the timing of the courses was very off. Although I would say that the amuse bouches were quite good, as well as the Thai Soup and Seafood salad. However, everything after that was not. There was a fish dish that lacked flavor and depth, a very fatty short rib dish and an average pasta dish. It was as if these dishes all had great potential, but were missing key ingredients that would take it to the next level....the level you would expect at a restaurant like this. Dinner with tip and tax (the tip of 18% is automatically added) was $252 - for 2 people - this was without wine or drinks. For that kind of money I expect a lot more.

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

7 Courses @ Bastide

Thanks everyone for all the details - I am so looking forward to it, and I think the patio will work out fine! One more question - how did you both have the opportunity to meet the chef and see the kitchen - did you ask or was it offered up after dinner?

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

7 Courses @ Bastide

I am going this saturday for dinner, but we could only get the patio - do you remember if that was a good place to sit? Also - does dinner really take 4 hours? We made 8 pm reservations - should I make it earlier? The other time available was 6:30 pm.

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Gloria's Cafe on Venice Blvd

Has anyone ever heard of this place? I have had friend's recommend it, but have not seen anything on the boards? Can you tell me if you have been and what you ordered?

Thanks!

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Chocolate Soft Serve Ice Cream

what about wendy's - their chocolate frosty is very tasty!

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Scarboni now Italian trattoria

one word: HORRIBLE!!! I got dragged to this place from my family and we all hated it!! Pasta sauce tasted like it was literally from a can! And the chicken parm had a very odd texture - almost like fake meat? Avoid this place!!

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Back from Manhattan

Thanks RGR - may I ask what you ate in the Tavern Room? And the only reason I mentioned A Voce is because of the duck meatballs I keep hearing about!!

allisonteal in Manhattan

Back from Manhattan

mmm...now i am thinking i may want a back-up restaurant. while i do not need to feel stuffed leaving a restaurant, i do want to feel satisfied, and 3 bites of anything will not suffice. any suggestions on another restaurant to try? my husband and i already have reservations at babbo the night before...thoughts on veritas, gramercy tavern, a voce?

allisonteal in Manhattan

Back from Manhattan

i am relieved to still hear the raves for this place. now for the most important question - what do i order?? the duck sounds amazing, but so does the pig - any suggestions of what i must order?? thanks!!

allisonteal in Manhattan

Back from Manhattan

Oh no!! I am coming for a visit to NY this weekend and have reservations at 11 Madison Park. So you think it wasn't worth it? Did you have the 3 course or 4 course meal? Was the few bites that you had even good??

allisonteal in Manhattan

Katz's To Go??

I am visiting New York for only a couple of days and trying to get in all my favorites. I was planning on picking up a couple of sandwiches to go for our plane ride home - do you think they will last or would it be better to get the meat platter and bread on the side??

Thanks!!

allisonteal in Manhattan

Chef Eric's Culinary Classroom - HORRIBLE

He said this was a new format for the couples cooking classes - no instruction and to just jump into the cooking, so I didn't come away with any tips/techniques. Also, he was running around the entire time jumping from group to group so it was very hard to get questions in. And I don't expect an amazing meal, but I expect the food to be good enough to want to make on my own, which it definetly wasn't!!

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Chef Eric's Culinary Classroom - HORRIBLE

Yeah, normally that is how a cooking class goes - they give instructions for each recipe so you know what you are doing before you start cooking, which would make sense instead of just jumping right into it.

And all the other cooking classes I have been to before the food has been great! I have even had some amazing food before. If you haven't been to Hipcooks before in downtown LA I highly recommend!! I went to the Greek class and had some really GREAT food!! But I haven't been as successful there with all the instructors - make sure you sign up for a class with Monika, who is the owner.

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Chef Eric's Culinary Classroom - HORRIBLE

here is the website with all the info: http://www.culinaryclassroom.com/

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Chef Eric's Culinary Classroom - HORRIBLE

My husband and I went to a couples cooking class last Friday night and had the absolute worst food and experience at a cooking class EVER!

To begin with, there was no instruction on the recipes. I understand that we were not going to be each making everything, but how are we supposed to know how to make the other dishes unless they are discussed? I have been to countless other cooking classes at Sur La Table, Epicurean, Culinary Arts of Laguna and Hipcooks, and we were always given a brief “how to” of all the recipes. Otherwise it is no different than if I were to pick up a cookbook and try to make it myself, except of course for the one recipe that we cooked.

In addition, it seemed like from the beginning that the class was very unorganized. Chef Eric was running around trying to tell everyone what to do and in between us cooking we were just standing around. Too much standing around that we could have made another dish, maybe even two. I tried to watch what he was telling other people, but it wasn’t easy with the other students standing in front. Even with all the standing around we were amazed that things were not done on time. The chef said we would eat at 9:30 pm, which is already late, and instead we were eating at 10 pm. There could have been much more accomplished during that waiting period that would have allowed us to eat when scheduled, but it appeared that Chef Eric wanted to do a majority of it, which left minimal cooking to us.

On top of all that the food was horrible! As a chef I was shocked that he felt good about the product he served us. In all the other cooking classes I have taken I have never had a bad meal. I may have loved some things and thought other things were just good, but our food was on par with a cafeteria (my husband’s thoughts). I am not sure if it was the recipes or that the students didn’t follow instructions? I actually thought our lamb was under seasoned, and either the pasta dough recipe was bad, or it should have been rolled out thinner – all I know was that nothing was good. And the dessert we were served wasn’t even ready since we only made it 30 mintues before class ended!! I have never had chocolate mousse that was still warm and soupy. We overheard other people making similar comments about some of the food as well, including the fact that we felt the fish that was served was not fresh since it smelled horrible when it first came out of the fridge.

All this for $200!! We could have gone to an amazing dinner, but instead got this. I warn everyone before taking a class at this school - avoid at all costs.

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Fraiche in Culver City

Out dinner last night at Fraiche was great! We really enjoyed everything, but here is a rundown of my thoughts on each individual item:

First off, the waiter selected a wine for us - it was a Burgundy ($50) that was exceptional. Went great with all the food and I thought it was very reasonably priced.

Appetizers:
Farro Salad - Very interesting flavors - tasted fresh, minty and loved the pecorino which sort of tied the whole dish together. Portion was unfortunately small - I wanted more of this.
Charcuterie - prosciutto and crespone. Both were excellent, really loved the crespone, but again just a few slices of each, which made it difficult to share between 3 people.

Pastas: Both were small portions, I am assuming they are meant to be shared since I could not order one of these and actually be full :)

Black & White Tagliolini with Bay Scallops: really interesting dish - I never had orange zest in my pasta before but it worked really well with the scallops. Pasta was super fresh, which always makes a big difference to me.

Tortelli with Braised Rabbit: The flavors in this were awesome, but all of us thought that the pasta was a little too al dente. Actually, some were fine and others were downright hard, which kind of took away from the enjoyment of it. The best bites were when you got the pieces of sage - really took it to another flavor level. I still liked this a lot, just wish the outer parts of the tortelli were a tad softer.

Entrees:

Monkfish Francaise - this was probably the best monkfish dish I have ever had. It was cooked perfectly and the flavors in this were super fresh. The mashed potatoes that accompanied this dish were lovely - not overly buttery, but still rich and creamy.

Lamb Spezzatino - this reminded me of the pot roast that my mom used to make growing up - had all the same flavors with the carrots, celery and onions, so it was super comforting and yummy. Although one of the diners thought it was a bit too salty. The ricotta gnocchi that accompanied this was awesome - melt in your mouth! I wish more people made gnocchi this way instead of with potatoes.

Dessert:
Paris-Brest: To me this tasted like a cream puff, but instead stuffed with almond whipped cream. It was good, but it was missing something. Would have been better if there was a mix of the almond cream and regular whipped cream to balance the flavors a little more. The saffron sauce was really interesting though - other people at the table liked this better than me.

Strawberry and Rose: This was awesome!! One of the most interesting and best desserts I have had in a long time. Prepared so well and the combination of the cake with the mousse and the ice cream was just lovely. Tasted so fresh and light. I could eat this all the time!!

Overall thoughts that I took away was that on a whole we really enjoyed the meal. These days when I think about how I judge a restaurant and whether or not I would return is based on 1) Quality and 2) Uniqueness. I don't like going to a restaurant and getting something that I know I could get at any other restaurant - I like trying new things and experiencing new flavors. Also, the quality of the food and the freshness of each ingredient is also important - I have been amazed at times by dishes that have so few ingredients, yet everything is the best and freshest and it makes a world of difference. I thought Fraiche did really well with both these criteria. Everything we ate not only tasted unique, but the quality of it all was excellent. I would return and I would also recemmond this place to others. Actually...looking forward to returning since there are so many things on the menu I still want to try.

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Spago: Non-tasting menu Recs needed!

Ask for the tuna cones - they were yummy! We also enjoyed the beet layer cake, but you can get that anywhere these days. the veal meatballs were heavenly though!!

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area

Fraiche in Culver City

After all rave reviews I keep hearing about this place we got reservations for dinner tonight. Any recommendations on what to get??

Thanks!

allisonteal in Los Angeles Area