abryan's Profile
New foodie in London. Looking for the best sandwiches money can buy.
My husband loves Fuzzy's Grub on Cornhill. Also check out Banger Bros (hot dogs, chorizo sandwiches, etc) and the German food cart on Portobello Road (spicy sausage with onions on baguette), and the Moroccan stall on Golborne Road (grilled chicken or lamb in a baguette or pita). The Earl of Sandwich is pretty good too.
Bukhara, Maurya Sheraton, Delhi
My husband and I went to Bukhara twice on our recent Delhi trip. Yes, it is expensive and the seating is weird, but I will overlook pretty much anything for that tandoori raan (leg of lamb) and the shrimp. Those are seriously special dishes that I am still thinking about weeks later. We found the butter naan and the dal great as well. Of course there is wonderful inexpensive food to be had in Delhi, but there is also excellent five-star hotel food, which is what this is and I don't think they are mutually exclusive. It is a nice complement to venturing out to more casual/chaotic/inexpensive places like Karim's and I would highly recommend both experiences.
Restaurant Supply Stores in London?
There are two great places on Westbourne Grove - Kitchen Ideas at 70 Westbourne Grove and another similar one a few doors down. Great, cheap basics but definitely more geared toward the home kitchen than catering.
Naples-Pizza Poll.....
I just got back from Naples - we went to Di Matteo and Trianon on the advice of these reviews. Both were fantastic. Our take was that we marginally preferred the pizzas at Di Matteo but loved the atmosphere of Trianon, especially in the evening. I had the Margherita DOC at both (called Bufala DOC at Di Matteo I think). I definitely liked the DOC at Di Matteo better - better char, more even distribution of ingredients. My husband's two pizzas were a closer call.
You can't go wrong with either of these two. Or do what we did and go to Di Matteo for lunch and Trianon for dinner! (And go on a diet immediately afterwards.)
Place for a high-end lunch with plenty of natural light
River Cafe and Cafe Anglais are great suggestions. You might also look into La Petite Maison in Mayfair. No view but it is extremely light and airy and great for lunch.
Current Best Bets in London Chinatown
I used to go to Ba Shan once a week and won't be going back except maybe for old times' sake. The menu is now basically the same as BarShu as DollyDagger says. They no longer have many of the best dishes on the menu and the ones that made this place so unusual (nor will they make them if asked) - the five-spice beef salad, the spicy chicken salad, the flatbreads (well, they retained one but it's a shadow of its former self), etc. It's not bad, but definitely not worth a trip across town any more for me.
Charco de las Ranas - Mexico City
El Charco de las Ranas is the platonic ideal of tacos, quesadillas, sincronizadas, etc. for me, mainly because there was one down the street from where I grew up and that's where I learned to eat them!
Current Best Bets in London Chinatown
I tried Pearl Liang last weekend after reading about it here and while it was good it definitely won't be luring me away from Royal China on Queensway for weekend lunches (I live close to both). While it was nice to have some different dishes from the RC standards, the food didn't have that piping-hot freshness that you get at RC during busy times, nor the fun of the bustling, packed atmosphere.
Report: Bombay/Mumbai and Goa (long) [Moved from International board]
I'm shocked there aren't more posts on Bombay. I searched the boards for some recommendations before a recent trip and there are really not many considering what an amazing city it is for eating. For anyone else who's looking, other than the old faithfuls of Trishna and Khyber, we like:
Kailash Parbat (KP's), Colaba: a new discovery for us. Has the type of street food I wish I could eat at Chowpatty. Amazing dahi potato puri, pani puri, chole batata, etc.
Shiv Sagar, near Nariman Point: their pav bhaji is the first thing we eat when we get off the plane. Simple lunch-canteen type of place.
Status, near Nariman Point: another new discovery. You wait outside on plastic chairs with 150 locals and their families until you are called in for your veg thali. Mini pav bhajis (served on toothpicks like little sliders) amazing.
People rave about Olympia's chicken biryani (Colaba) but when we went it was a severely disappointing pile of cold rice with a few meagre, bony chicken pieces.
London: Good dosa near Hyde Park?
I second Woodlands, they do great paper dosas and masala dosas.
[London] What do people think of Bentley's?
I had the sole in late September and it was truly fabulous. Hope they haven't gone downhill since Corrigan's opened!
Sagar, Hammersmith, London
I love it. Have never had the thali but the paper dosa, masala dosa, mint dosa, puri, etc etc are all great. Now I might have to go there tonight!
Impossible: one dinner in Rome
Update:
We ended up going to Colline Emiliane for dinner. We had trouble finding it and so were twenty minutes late for an 8:30 reservation. Upon entering, the owner barks "WE'RE FULL!" angrily at us from across the restaurant. After finally catching his eye again I explain that we had a reservation. "I know who you are! You're late! You'll have to wait". Fine, seated within 20 minutes.
More importantly, the food. Started with the culatello and another type of salumi, both of which were good, not transcendent. Then tagliatelle bolognese. The pasta itself was the best thing about this dish, rather than the sauce. It had a great texture - homemade and remarkably thin. The star secondo was the braised veal in an egg and lemon sauce - excellent meat, excellent, rich sauce. Served with mashed potatoes.
The food was good and we ended up having a good time in spite of the rocky beginning but I suspect the place suffers from being a bit over-hyped (and from terrible lighting).
For lunch, stopped at Pizzeria la Montecarlo near Piazza Navona.
This was a great place, if for no other reason than most of my favorite pizzerias don't serve pizza for lunch, which is when I like it best (even though I know it's not traditional). This place had very good pizza, if a little wet in the middle. Fritti were excellent.
Impossible: one dinner in Rome
Eddie, thanks for the thoughts on Il Ciak. Sounds right up our alley. Re the waiting times - does this mean they don't take reservations?
Would also love to hear what you thought of Checchino if you made it over there!
enchilada sauce
What about green enchiladas - verdes or Suizas? You can make a very simple sauce with just roasted, skinned poblanos, tomates verdes/tomatillos, cilantro, onion and chicken broth. I, too, never measure, but this one can be as simple as putting all of the above ingredients together in a blender and then sauteeing them briefly to get the raw taste out.
I think a roux-based sauce is unnecessary - when you bake the enchiladas the tortillas themselves should thicken the sauce enough to make a casserole-like consistency.
London - where to buy mexican black beans?
You can find the Cool Chile Co dried black beans at their restaurant Taqueria in Westbourne Grove, their stalls at Portobello and Borough Market, or at Whole Foods, or you can get the tinned ones at both Whole Foods and Partridges.
Impossible: one dinner in Rome
Thanks, everyone, for these thoughts. Jen, your description sounds exactly like what I wanted to avoid but it sounds like one can't go wrong with any of these! Really looking forward to the trip (and the dinner). I will let you know how I get on...
Impossible: one dinner in Rome
Thanks for this input, Maureen. I think that Frenchified idea of mine came from two things - one, the arguable notion that many (though certainly not all) of the starred places in London, where I live, tend to be French-influenced, and two, a quick glance at Agata & Romeo's menu online which lists "two consistencies of foie gras with fig chutney and sorbet". Upon second look that impression doesn't hold with A & R, however, especially reading the Italian version of the menu - fegato grasso rather than foie, etc. I am happy to be corrected - all the better.
Sounds like Agata, Convivio and Checchino are the front-runners, though certainly not discounting the others. Any thoughts on which you would choose for one special dinner for a pair of pasta- and red meat-lovers?
And thanks for the Il Camparone lunch rec, Katie - I know that tiny piazza well but have never eaten there!
** Side note by way of explanation: the last time I spent a significant amount of time in Rome was as a student, hence my ignorance of anything above the pizza bianca-level of sophistication in that particular city.
Where can I find AMERICAN Cheddar Cheese in London?
It's not Cheddar - but my solution to the American burger cheese problem in London is Monterey Jack from Whole Foods. They also have some milder Spanish Manchegos and goat cheeses that work on things like Mexican food, for which I find feta to be a totally unacceptable though oft-suggested substitution!
You might also call Partridges - I don't think I have seen the cheese there but they stock lots of American products so you might get lucky.
Impossible: one dinner in Rome
Heading to Rome midweek next month and faced with the impossible: picking a place for dinner for one night only before we head out to the countryside (tiny town in Abruzzo).
Happy to push out the boat expense-wise but I'm not sure Rome is really the place to do Frenchified Michelin-starred restaurants. However, the food where we are going after will be extremely rustic and simple so looking for a couple of nice meals before we go.
After research on postings here and elsewhere, the shortlist is:
Colline Emiliane
Il Ciak
Le Mani in Pasta
Dal Bolognese
Convivio Troiani
Agata e Romeo
Not overly fussed about the food being Roman as you can see from Tuscan/Emilian picks above...we love pasta and meat (but not necessarily offal hence Cecchino being left off the list).
Can anyone comment on how these places stack up against one another?
(Would also love to hear of any can't-miss lunch spots in Trastevere/Testaccio.)
