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Many thanks to Silverbrow for inviting me to a very special UK preview of Ratatouille! (Yes, American friends, I know. You saw this months ago. Give me a break. It only opens here on October 5th!)
What a fantastic film.
I loved the rats' whiskers. And I loved loved loved the final kitchen scene. It reminded me a lot of Richard Scary's books, which I was obsessed with as a child.
Check it out...
101 Fortess Road
NW5 1AG
Tel: 020 7485 9400
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, September 15, 2007
The Damage: £40 per person
The Victims: Al & Louise and friends
The Background: Al & Louise are THE BEST. They've got a sitter for the evening for Baby Oscar and they've organized dinner at one of their new locals. I've never been to Tufnell Park, so I am excited! Field trip! And you know what...my local bus goes STRAIGHT there. Which is nice.
The Entrance: I like it. It's pub-y. And large. And friendly. We have about three different people waiting on us and they are just all so nice. Particulalry the French guy. He's a keeper.
The Starters: We start with some bread and olives which are nice. The bread is good. And then I go for the squid and it is really just average. It needs salt. The menu says it's spiced. It's not. Note, however, that I said the same exact thing about my Katsudon at Sasa Sushi earlier in the day, so maybe it's me that needs salt! But I mentioned the blandness out loud at the table and there were many nods of agreement--not enough salt.
The Mains: Because I am so addicted to Risotto now, I go for the pea and mint and mushroom risotto. And it is nice. Better than nice, but less excellent than the risotto the other night at Osteria dell'Arancia. I am not disappointed. But I am not enthralled either.
The Company: EXCELLENT. We make plans. We form a dinner club. An interesting and different dinner club. So I can get my fix on Ethiopian. And Korean. Yey! I can't wait.
The Verdict: Oh, my friend Sarah will get mad at me for this one. See, even though my food was only OK, I actually quite liked The Junction, so I'd probably go back. It's just a nice and friendly unpretentious place. But I wouldn't use the Loo there...because it's filthy.
422 St John St
EC1V 4NJ
Tel: 020 7837 1155
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, September 15, 2007
The Victim: Me, myself, and I
The Damage: £15?
The Background: I was having one of those days. It was only 1 p.m. and I'd already been on and off more trains and buses than I've ever been on in one single day in London. Most of this was related to my stupid bankcard. (Defining moment: Me, yelling (ok, speaking harshly) at my bank about their inability to deliver my bankcard and thus my inability to obtain cash.
The customer service rep: "Well, you could just go to the nearest branch."
I was, I am, I forever will be ashamed. I live in such a paperless world that the thought hadn't even crossed my mind!)
So on my way home from Selfridges, which does accept American Express (John Lewis does not), I decided to stop into Sasa Sushi. When I first moved to Clerkenwell, there were few sushi options. There was just Pham on Whitecross Street. (Which my Japanese former-coworker explained was actually Vietnamese and not Japanese.) And I suppose there's the Yo! on Farringdon. But now there's Life. And Saki (still need to check out Saki--let me know if you're interested). And Sa Sa Sushi.
The Entrance and Service: I am greeted warmly, but I am the only one there. Two groups of people come in to place take-away orders. It's a little lonely. My server is very sweet but I have a hard time understanding her. I feel awkward. The decor is uninspired. They are trying to sell the pictures on the wall, but I think they can do it in a much more classy way. And the menu is way too disjointed and complicated...simplicity is key! I want to help them.
The Food: I order a crunchy tuna roll and it is a very generous serving. I am very happy. It's pretty good. But then I get the Katsudon (pork cutlet in rice with a fried egg) and it is not very good. It was missing pretty much everything. Really. I did not like this dish. At all. It needed some more salt. And this is even me knowing that whenever I eat at Wagamama, I need to drink a gallon of water afterwards.
The Verdict: Eh. I might order a bunch of crunchy tuna rollls as takeaway. But I'd rather go to Pham.
Paper Planes - M.I.A. (You gotta listen to the whole song. Give it more than 15 seconds. Thanks to David Byrne Radio, again, for introducing me to this classic.)
It's 1997. I am in Russia! With Aileen, one of my best friends in the entire world. She was a Russian major in undergrad. And she wants to go to Russia. And so I say Da. And we fly British Airways from Chicago to London and then London to St. Petersberg and they give us Yorkie Bars on the plane and we think that's the funniest thing ever--and we also live off our Yorkie Bars for days. Those things are pretty hearty.
But one of my favorite memories of Saint Petersberg is Baltika, the beer. I forget how we were introduced to it. But we were. And we got very into it. (OK, maybe I got very into it?) Because I loved how numerical they were about it. There's just something so easy about saying "I'll have the number 7!" I'll come back to that in a moment.
So Baltika--they are the most popular beer brand in Russia, and they are the second largest selling beer after Heineken in Europe. (I have to guess it's because they have a somewhat captive audience? I'd love to see their market share in the former USSR.) They've got 10 different varietes of beer to offer and here's their thing--they number them. Now I used to think--and tell people--that they were ordered by alcohol content and/or lightness/darkness, but this is (sadly) not the case. I've just checked their Web site. They are just numbered. That's fine. Although I think it would be SO much cooler if they were numbered in some sort of order.
So I was SO excited the other month when I walked into the Tube and I saw a huge poster about Baltika and the U.K. And then on the escalator at Angel, I saw these little mini posters.
Number 3 is here.
Spasiba.
P.S. OK, I just checked their financial results and here's their market share as of August 2006:
Russia: 35.6%
Ukraine: 17.7%
The Baltics: 43.8%
Kazakhstan: 29.6%
Oh, and I learned that Baltika is now a product of Scottish & Newcastle, who have three of the top ten brands in Europe by volume: Baltika, Kronenbourg 1664 and Foster’s.
383 King's Road
SW10 0LP
0207 349 8111
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, September 13, 2007
The Victims: Many UK/London food bloggers. Including Johanna, Jeanne, Andy, Aidan, Walid, Sara, Steve, Sarah, and many others
The Background: Have you read my About page? The page where I say I don't accept free gifts? Well, I am a liar. A big one. Sister Virginia Maria would be very unhappy with me right now.
Because I have accepted free gifts. Two of them. One, a wonderful tour of Borough Market with Celia Brooks Brown, sponsored by the London restaurant review site, Trusted Places. The other, a fabulous dinner at Osteria dell Arancio the other night, sponsored by San Lorenzo.
San Lorenzo makes all sorts of delicious things...like risotto...and porcini mushrooms...and wine! And they are very Web 2.0 in that they are looking to build their business via social networking. And Osteria dell Arancio? Well, it's just enough off the King's Road to make it somewhat normal. And it's just a friendly and fun place.
So see...the Web 2.0 bit is why I don't feel so bad about accepting this free gift. It's because I follow Sara. I read her blog. I've met her in person. (That's her in the photo above, along with her colleague.) It's like a friend inviting you to dinner and paying for everything!
The Entrance: I am LATE. Late, late late. Like AN HOUR late. I am NEVER late. I am always early. (German and very serious about time. Not in a serious serious way, but well, if sometimes starts at 9, I am there at 8:50. That's just it.) But to make a very long story short, I've been waiting for my new bank card, and apparently, I don't exist, so they've been having trouble finding me. So I am stuck placing the UMPTEENTH call to my bank and to the courier, trying to get them organized. I think I'm successful, but I learn on Friday that I've failed. Sigh. You know, in America, they just mail you your card.
But the folks at Osteria dell'Arancio are very happy to see me. I arrive just in time for the rice tasting (Yes, who would have thunk it! We have a rice tasting, and I can truly say that not all rice is created--or cooked--equal.) The only thing that would have made the rice tasting better was little sample bags to take home with me. Because now I totally want to make myself some risotto. (Yes, yes! Can you believe it? Me, who doesn't cook!)
The Starters: After the rice tasting (I'm now in love with Carnaroli), we head downstairs to dinner. We start out with two risottos...a porcini and a radicchio. Now normally, I don't like risotto. It's like wet rice. Nothing exciting.
But that's because, apparently, all the risotto I've ever had before has been CRAP. Because I can honestly say that it's one of the best darn things I've ever eaten. Really, it was lovely and creamy and rich and exciting--not monotonous. I think that's the best word I can use to describe how I normally feel about risotto...it's normally pretty monotonous...to me anyhow.
The Main: It's chocolate cake! No, I'm a liar. It's DUCK PIE! But it looks a heck of a lot like chocolate cake. I'm serious. Check it out. And feel awful that you can only appreciate its deliciousness virtually. Because this dish was so unique and different and interesting and fun. It was made with black risotto! On the downside, it was super-rich and heavy so I started worrying about having room for...
The Dessert! It's rice pudding! But it's not. It's cheesecake. But no, it only tastes like cheesecake. Because I don't believe there's any cheese involved. (Another suggestion for Sara re: how to do these events next time...GIVE US THE RECIPES!) It's really good. (And forgive the exposure on these photos...my Digital Macro setting got into a fight with a bottle of Pinot and lost.)
The Wine: All washed down by some lovely Barolo and Barbaresco.
The Verdict: Loved the food. And the company of fellow UK food bloggers and fellow social-networkers. And the venue. And San Lorenzo. And here is the shameless plug--these guys are trying to break into the UK market by way of export...support them. Buy some risotto from them. And some mushrooms. And whatever else catches your fancy. All via mail order. They're nice people.
UK food bloggers together are bad. Bad bad bad. I was out the other night with Howard and Ben and we were talking about a particular topic discussed during the evening, and how Howard had gotten a bit tired of that one particular topic.
And I said, "But don't you think people get tired of US? Talking about food constantly? I mean ALL THE TIME? Not wanting to go to Pizza Express (except for their delicious salad dressing) or Ask or All Bar One? Not wanting to go to a restaurant we've already been to when we can go someplace new and exciting? Rattling on and on about how bottled water is a rip off?" (OK, that bottled water thing is just me.)
But man if we're not fun. Case in point. Fellow UK food blogger Jess from Ripe London invites me along to the London Food Fair. She's got some free tickets! Which is great. Because the food fare SUCKS. Big time. It's so lame. There's no one there. The only saving grace was Brown Brothers. Because we tasted a lot of wine there. But other than that, I'm glad we didn't pay to get in.
So we were going to assauge ourselves with a burrito over at Mucho Mas, but I convinced Jess to head over to the Hay's Galleria Oyster Fest instead. I love the Oyster Fest. This was my fourth year visiting. Good times.
So we had some oysters, which were lovely
.
And then we had some mussels, which were just okay...although that didn't stop us!
And then we headed over to Borough in the hopes that Konditor and Cook might be open, but they weren't. (It was a Sunday.) So we went to Patisserie Lila instead.
1 Bedale Street
SE1 9AL
Tel: 020 7403 6304
Now, I like the way Patisserie Lila looks. It's cute. And I, as an American, love anything cute.
But you know what? I am annoyed almost immediately. Jess and I pick out some cake--coffee cake for me (which is not American-style coffee cake, but rather layer cake with coffee frosting in between the layers) and an apple tart for her (which looks amazing), and we're told to take a seat because they'll take our order. Fine. Fine. So we sit.
And then--here comes the annoying bit--our server tells us "You can only sit if you're having food."
She says this with no context whatsoever. It is a pronouncement.
Now really, it's fine because we are having food. But as I like to say, it's all in the delivery. Had she said, "Hi, how are you? Are you having cake? Or just coffee?" I would have been fine. (Although if she had made me leave because I wasn't having cake, I would have caused a scene. A big Long Island scene.)
As I also like to say...if the NPV of any transaction is greater than 0, you should do it. (And well, correct me if I'm wrong--but wouldn't forcing me to leave be a Negative NPV transaction? Throw people out of pastry shop. Make no money. People never come back because they are annoyed. So make less money off of said people than you would have if you had JUST LET THEM HAVE THEIR COFFEE.) So if Patisserie Lila has been throwing people out all this time because they're not having cake, well, they're idiots. Because they could be doing this so differently.
Example: For the people who don't order cake, tempt them! Have something sweet and inexpensive behind the counter. Bring it out. Have them try it. UPSELL them.
Another Example: Give them a little coupon for 50p off cake THE NEXT TIME they come in. This increases the chances that they will come back, and next time, they'll order food! MENTAL ACCOUNTING, folks. They will have the coupon for 50p, and will most likely spend more because in their head, they are saving money.
Another Example: Say, "Are you sure? We just had a great apple tart come out. It's really great." In other words, use your powers of persuasion, rather than being a complete and utter jackass.
Is it really that hard? No. It's not. But why why why do people treat customers like the plague? Like idiots? Like cheapskates? Like they might never be secret-shopped? Like no one will ever write a review about Patisserie Lila? Because now, I'm never going back. They are just too short-sighted for me. I don't care how cute they are or how delicious their apple tart is. (For the record, the coffee cake was just okay.) They are dead to me.
56 St. Giles High Street
WC2H 8LH
020 7379 3781
Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, September 5, 2007
The Damage: £10
The Victim: Me, myself, and I
The Background: Tube strike. Hair appointment in Central London. Bus not moving. Too many people on street. Keep. Bumping. Into. People. Arrrggh. Must get away from madness. Must get out of the way until city calms down.
Well...now it is 7 p.m....I could have dinner somewhere...
And well...Team China did tell me about Centre Point and the restaurants around there.
Hmmm...Korean. I love Korean. Did I mention that I love Korean? This place looks fun...
The Entrance: Hello! Hello! Welcome! Welcome. Where would you like to sit?
I take the bar. I ask for tea and they bring me COLD tea in a 1/2 pint glass. This wasn't what I was expecting but it is PERFECT. Because I am all hot and worked up from the madness on the street. And they keep bringing me refills. It's fantastic.
I like my seat at the little bar. There are about 8 seats that wrap around. I can't really see what's going on behind the bar, but I can talk to the server and otherwise observe. The place is packed with a student crowd. (All two other tables, that is. Maybe three tables. I forget.) I hear lots of Korean. (Or well, I hear lots of "chuseyo"s and "gamsamnedas." Maybe they too, like me, just like to throw around the random "chuseyo" and "gamsamneda.")
The Food: I debate the pancake. I love love love Korean pancakes. But I sorta want some spicy tofu soup. The guy behind the bar tells me both would be too much, so I stick with the soup. It arrives in a cool eartheware type of bowl. And it is indeed spicy. It's got a good amount of tofu in it and a great amount of seafood. There's a whole little crab in there. And two shrimp. And 5 clams. I am somewhat regretful because it's a bit hot out and this hot and spicy soup is just making me hotter, and plus I learn later that I've got the flu so I'm even hotter than normal. (And hence all the extra crankiness.) But that doesn't prevent me from enjoying the deliciousness.
The Verdict: My new post-Oxford Street hangout. Love it. Love them. Gamsamneda.
50-51 Sloane Square
SW1W 8AX
Tel: 020 7730 2804
Date of Last Visit: Monday, August 27th, 2007
The Victims: Brian, Kate, Al, Barry
The Damage: About £20 each
The Background: Every so often, my friend Brian arranges brunch for our grad school friends. Unfortunately, Brian has been in Dubai for the last six months, and apparently, we are incapable of any organizational activity at all without him, so there haven't been many brunches. So I was glad that he was back and brunch was in the cards once more.
He picks Oriel in Sloane Square which I am surprised by because Brian and I are both East-Central-ers and Sloane Square is more than a bit inconvenient for us, transportation-wise. But with the prospect of friends AND frites in my future, I saddle up the Oyster Card and get ready for the hour long commute.
The Entrance: We score a table outside which is a bit awkwardly placed...I am high up on a cement something or other. But it's fine. It's fun watching the Sloanies walk by, with their sweaters tossed so just artfully SO around their shoulders. And the women in their sky-high heels, who MUST have a driver because they are SO not taking the tube like that. (Either that, or they're walking no farther than Hugo Boss.)
The Food: Fishcakes for me and they are hearty. Very hearty. I can't finish them. This makes me a little sad. I consider asking for a doggie bag, but I don't think the combo of American + no-sweater-around-shoulders + asking-for-a-doggie-bag will work here. So I bid them adieu as our sweet French server--who is sweet but also a bit slow--takes them away.
The Sadness: So I haven't seen Brian in MONTHS and I did not go to visit him in Jordan as per our discussions. Well guess what? This brunch turns out to be his farewell brunch. He moved to Hong Kong the next weekend.
The Verdict: You know, there's nothing wrong with Oriel. It's just not my style. I feel like I should wait to go again until I've had some botox and/or have a lap dog. Note that I am allergic to dogs.
8 Uxbridge Road
Station Parade
W5 3LD
Tel: 020 8992 2848
Date of Last Visit: Sunday, 2 September 2007
The Victim: Me
The Damage: £20
The Background: This all started with a catalog. The Boden catalog, to be exact. It arrived randomly in the mail the other day, and I just loved everything in it. I'd never heard of Boden before.
The Cardigans – Live and Learn
Ordering from catalogs makes me nervous. And well, I can get a bit lazy about certain things, and processing returns is one of them. So I thought, "Maybe they have a store somewhere?" And lo and behold, they do! But it's somewhere near a tube station called Park Royal, which I've never heard of before. (Yes, geographically illiterate. Completely. But this is not a London-specific-problem. I lived in Chicago for eight years, and left the city exactly four times to visit the suburbs: twice to IKEA, once to a colleague's Christmas party, and once to an engagement party.)
I get out the tube map and figure it out. I'm fine. I'll take the Picadilly.
But I can't take the Picadilly because someone has left a package unattended at Holborn at 10:30 in the morning on a Sunday!!! So I get thrown off the Picadilly and have to figure out another way to get to Park Royal. The answer is Hanger Lane, and I have no idea where that is either. I consult my trusty A-to-Z only to find out that where I'm going is NOT in my A-to-Z, which ends somewhere in the west around North Acton. Great.
Well, I figure it will be an adventure. So I go, and actually the walk from Hanger Lane to Park Royal is very clearly labeled so I'm fine. And I sorta feel like I'm not in London anymore, which is cool.
This is the part that male readers might want to skip through...
I find Boden and I love it. I snap up three skirts and a sweater. (I like skirts. Never been a fan of jeans or trousers really; I think it's because when I was an exchange student in Austria, I wore the same 5 pairs of trousers every day for a year. That sucked. I do like corduroys though.) I find some other things I like, but either the color or the size is wrong, so I figure I can order those from the catalog. (Which I do, later. And buy five more things.) Here is one of my new skirts...
And here's another...
And of course, all of this shopping leaves me very hungry. I know that somewhere around Ealing Common, there are some Japanese restaurants that are supposed to be really really good. Yey! More sushi! (See, I'm telling you...that week in Sardinia did something to me...I don't want to see any cheese or pasta or pork for a while.)
(Male readers can tune back in now.)
The Entrance: Sushi Hiro across from the Ealing Common tube is on vacation. Kiraku is not. So I take a seat in Kiraku and wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. For. Someone. Please. To. Take. My. Order. Please. I. Am. Dying.
There are three servers and they are all very busy. Putting together the drinks for ONE table of eight. And everyone else in the restaurant (the four of us, that is) is just sitting there, waiting to place our orders. It's awful. But--I am the only "Westerner" in the place, which I take as a good sign.
The Food: I've waited so long, I don't have time for questions about the menu. The lunch menu, by the way, is pretty much all in Japanese, with some very, very, very brief English descriptions. So probably not a good choice if you are not the adventurous sort. (The full menu has photos, which is good.) I just go for the Sushi Combo for £12.50 and some tea. (I ask what's in the sushi combo and the server doesn't know.) Later I opt for a shrimp roll of some sort that looks nice.
The sushi combo comes with some miso soup, some salad, some chicken, and some fresh fruit, along with five pices of nigri and four pieces of a salmon roll.
And it's perfect. Delicious. Very very very fresh. It's like eating butter. In the best possible way you can imagine. I am very happy. And I like the Futomaki roll that I order too although it's so large, it's hard to eat in a ladylike manner.
The Loos: Spanking clean. Really. Some of the cleanest I've seen. The stairs could use a power washing though.
The Verdict: I was pleased with this adventure. I wish it were closer. And I wish the service was more attentive. (I watched one couple walk out when they were totally ignored at the sushi bar.) But the food was pretty darn good.
Corner of Old Street & Aldersgate/Goswell Road
Tel: Unknown
Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, August 29, 2007
The Victim: Me
The Damage: £30 with a £10 glass of wine
The Story: So for the last couple of weeks, I've been walking past this Japanese place at the intersection of Old Street and Goswell Road, waiting for it to open. Personally, I think one of the secrets of opening a new restaurant is to minimize the time-to-launch. Man, did these guys take a long time. Or so it seemed. Or maybe I was just desparate for sushi.
I WAS desperate for sushi. You see, after a week in Sardinia (where seafood is not really the thing, surprisingly), I just wanted something light and refreshing and NOT Italian. So finally I saw that Life would be open for dinner on the 29th. After a good workout (yes, still trying to practice clean living), I made my way over.
The Entrance: I like the space. It's loft-like. It's all bare brick walls, and then one wall has this cool wood paneling thing going on. I also like the little chopstick rests--they are little paper-mache bows.
The Service: Is sweet, but TOTALLY clueless. I ask for a glass of wine and she has no idea what I mean. I repeat and repeat and repeat again. I show her the menu. She has vision problems. She holds the menu 3 inches from her face and then proceeds to write down C-l-o-u-d-y-B-a-y-C-h-a-r-d-o-n-n-a-y-£-1-0. (I also think £10 is a ripoff.)
Someone needs to add numbers to all the options on the menu, pronto.
I ask for recommendations and it's clear that she hasn't tried anything. She then points to the braised pork and says it's good. So I go for it. I'm tired and don't want to think anymore. Oh, I also get a spicy tuna roll.
The Food: The spicy tuna roll is nice. It's not bad. It's not particularly exciting either. But they definitely get points for presentation. I liked the platter it was served on.
The braised pork turns out to be some decent sized chunks of very tender pork served with what my mother, the German, woudl call butter noodles. It's a thick pasta. And I am so peeved at myself for falling for the only Italian Japanese dish on the menu. But you know what? It's pretty good.
More about The Service: The servers spent more than a little time standing in the entranceway to the main dining room, staring at everyone. This weirded me out. Oh, and then they kept turning down the lights and it was just SO dark. And then when I really needed them, I couldn't find them anywhere.
The Verdict: I'm going to give this place another shot. It was opening night, so I'll forgive the service. But they gotta sharpen up. And next time, I'm not asking for recommendations.
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