When everyone including dear Ol’ Uncle B has visited this restaurant, that’s when you know the interwebs has taken to showering yet another crowd pleaser with its ever expanding vocabulary of praise words. “Wondrous”. “Decadent”. “Moorish”. “Decadent”. “Sinful”. “Ultimate comfort food”. Adjectives, which I too, am guilty of overusing. Cynicism aside, a restaurant that has collected as many reviews as it has since it’s April debut, must be doing something right. Somehow, I had managed to avoid the 50% discount circus, though the full asking price wasn’t too bad. To grease the wheels, we started with not one, but two plates (£1.50 each) of their excellent warm, crusty and soft sourdough (ironically, warm bread is abit of a rarity in London restaurants) served with some excellent artichoke puree, which i gather is, must be made in house. I ordered one of their fresh juices, the ‘invigorate’ of pineapple, apple, lime and strawberries. Sadly it was anything but invigorating… and note to self, never drink pineapple and strawberry juice from the same glass. Service was a little jumpy, but well intentioned, they had a tendency to take things away before we were done with them, like the wedge of pineapple, which I had initially wanted to savour when I finished my juice, for instance. Believe the hype, the decor is absolutely top class. Like the Tardis, it’s unimpressive on the outside,
I have never know Queen’s Park in its old days of notoriety, and since uprooting from West London to this part of town; I’ve always felt the safely suburban leafy surroundings was an entirely nice neighborhood to live in. Kilburn is another story altogether however. I’d already written about the lovely Salusbury pub before, and if you follow my twitter feed, you’ll note the weekly oyster popping at the Sunday farmers market, but I have always been itching to put something together regarding the two Italian cafes in Queen’s Park, which are both highly recommended, if you happen to be in the area. Giorgio’s The first candidate is situated on the corner of Salusbury Road. It used to be the grocery bit of Salusbury, and about this time last year, it was rechristened as Giorgios, and redecorated into a lazy corner cafe which served food throughout the day. The pizzas, bolognese arancinis and cannolis are all pretty good, though on this trip, we had arrived for brunch. Swirly hot chocolate to get the day going.. … and a vegetarian fry up. Hmm, wasn’t quite so sure about those vegetarian sausages. However, these bad boys – French toast with streaky bacon and maple syrup – were the stuff. Finally this was a little concoction of mine. Ham, egg and melting cheese ‘breakfast sandwich’. I call it Le GBK. A truly awesome
The reception for the Robot franchise, has been lukewarm, to say the least. Blogs can’t seem to get excited about either Tiny or Giant. Nevertheless, I was still interested in visiting at least one of the two all day diners in town, mainly because they serve one of my childhood nostalgic puddings – the baked alaska. Oh I wet many a diaper watching a waiter set meringue on fire to the effervescence of evaporating alcohol, right by the table. The food is Italian-American, and two restaurants that specialises in signature balls. Meatballs that is. But I didn’t get in any of the full menu action, instead I was looking for a place to brunch, on a sunny Saturday morning. Tiny Robot is situated along Westbourne Grove, and it sits on the ground floor, on top of a members only Starland Social Club in the basement, which is owned by The Rushmore Group. Let me just start by saying that I really like the decor. The space is actually quite small, with diner-style motifs, such as the green leather seats, washed out green tiled walls, aged wooden floors, and retro patterned enamel table tops. It’s great, it’s really comfortable inside. Bring on the coffee. Rum & Vanilla milkshake, Filter coffee. Woah, the rum was pretty stiff! Nice. I initially asked for a cappuccino, but changed it out to just a brew,
You can almost expect Audrey Tautou to waltz through the front door of this cosy restaurant; hang her coat, and whip her beret onto the coat rack. With Piaf marching on in the background, your eyes follow her every move, as she sits herself down on the round corner table for two (except she’s by herself), briefly re-arrange the silverware, and as she settles to her comfort spot; she senses your longing gaze and looks up. At which point, you change focus and start making eyes with the French waitress, who is in the process of handing the menu to you. You hesitate to say merci, because you feel insecure with the language, but know that it might make the difference between a successful or failed connection. Anti-climatically, you end with a simple thank you. Ah the romance. Tucked away in the nether regions of Knightsbridge, an alley way connecting either side of Brompton road, is Knightsbridge Green, where a relatively new bistro, opened by a rather well-regarded chef, has made its home. The full name Chabrot Bistrot d’amis, for the friendly bistro, I believe quite aptly describes the cosy, comforting, Parisian ambiance. Particularly the Parisian bit. Thierry Laborde is the previously mentioned chef, who brings with him an all-star track record that includes time at heavyweight French restaurants namely Roux’s Le Gav and Ducasse’s Louis XV. And the atmosphere
Camden doesn’t lack restaurants in number, it’s just most aren’t worth the detour. But things are changing. On the surface, one wouldn’t think this bar-café located at a gig venue – serving the purpose of tanking up visitors before any given performance – should suffer the unfortunate scrutiny of a blogger’s dour thoughts. However, after reading the Guy’s glowing review, which had cast the Roundhouse’s little known cafe as the most excellent over-performing underdog, I booked a table for a weekend lunch on Open Table. Off I trotted, on the route 31 toward Camden town. As I entered the semi elliptical room, that followed the contours of the Roundhouse, I couldn’t shake the feeling as if I had walked into a university café, a waiting room ambiance, a departure lounge. At first, I was puzzled with how short the menu seemed. Baked eggs, spicy tomato with yoghurt. Pancakes with blueberry, American style with maple syrup. Grilled banana and chocolate bread. Fried egg, sweet spiced chickpeas, labneh, pangrattato and coriander. Not that it didn’t sound good, but I was actually after the creative, extended small plates menu. Which was not available for lunch over weekends. Can’t say I wasn’t a little bummed. I had my eye on such beautifully described dishes such as the Jerusalem artichokes, walnut and gorgonzola agresto, slow-roasted tomatoes. Lamb, prune and walnut koftas, pearl barley tabbouleh and
You might think that something as modest as a cafe on the side of a towpath, used by neighbouring residents as a jogging and cycling route, would always remain hidden and truly a gem. That can no longer the case in the internet age. This sort of concept
The ‘X’ refers to the Brazilian mispronunciation of ‘ch’ in cheeseburger as ‘xis’-burger. So says the exposition on the menu, regarding the derivation of x-burger, of how cheeseburgers are locally referred to, in Brazil. So I heard about this place via a LondonEating
I never had confidence in museum mess halls. Having memories only of torrid experiences both locally and abroad. It is the logical thing to do, after taking in centuries of culture, to then breathe in stereotypical food. Of course, that was until I became a convert to the restaurant at Tate Modern. I wondered then about the general quality of London museum/gallery cafes – maybe it is not so bad afterall
As you know, I am now half way round the other side of the world basking in the sun. It’s been eight years since I left sunny Brunei, and in that time, friends have moved on to the bigger and better, I somehow feel as if I had only just awoken from a long coma, as the world is not the same as I remembered it. I have been catching up with some old friends from high school and I remember the days when Terry was the bonafide babe magnet at St Johns – I mean, girls used professed their love for him in the playground and all, very public. Good times, that was a long time ago. Today, Terrance is the chef/owner of his cafe in our home town, Kuala Belait, aiming to bring a sense of style to the humble town – coffee, elegant puds and a cosy laid back setting. I have much respect for independent cafes and so I thought I’d ask for the opportunity to gain an insight into what it takes to run a cafe
I say this with full confidence in my testosterone-charged manhood : I enjoy watching romcoms on the silver screen – the cheesier the better. Especially when the protagonist is a successful, young creative (but played by an older dude) who lives in an English speaking metropolis (aka NY) drives a dream car (or bike) and owns a penthouse. And he always manages to hang out at the coolest cafes in town, and the sun is always perfectly warm and vibrant – the image of a perfect afternoon cuppa… does it exist, or does it? Oh and there’s always the girl, this one girl especially. Swoon… And then one day, while me and my dreamgirl was strolling back from the park, we bumped into this heavenly spot which looks exactly like a hollywood set. Now all I need is Matthew McConaughey’s torso
National Geographic Pincho Cafe official site 83-97 Regent Street W1B 4E1 0207 0256960 Pinchos £4 each Pinchos: Spanish inspired small dishes that allow for instant gratification….oh wait isn’t that otherwise known as Tapas? An invite to try the cafe at the brand new National Geographic store in Regent steet; folks, the window light was brilliant and I brought my best camera lens. Can I interest you visual feast
The man is almost too beautiful to be a chef. As we ended the meal, I told our waiter to give our...
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… I write to you as I lie on the blackened brown beach in Brunei. It overlooks the oil rigs...
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Who comes up with all this fiction just for a restaurant? This is the persuasive language...
