londonelicious: a london restaurant blog

We'll be Back after These Messages...

I'm going to take a break for a bit. Back in the New Year. (Assuming I can actually stay away for that long.) Try not to miss me too much! In the interim, please be a dear and check out (and donate to) Menu for Hope.

What is Menu for Hope?
Menu for Hope is an annual fundraising hosted by blogger extraordinaire Chez Pim.  Five years ago, the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia inspired her to find a way to help, and the very first Menu for Hope was born.  The campaign has since become a yearly affair, raising funds to support worthy causes worldwide.  In 2006, Menu for Hope raised US$62,925.12 to help the UN World Food Programme feed the hungry.

What is the World Food Programme?
WFP is the world’s largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good.

Where will donations go?
With a special permission from the WFP, the funds raised by Menu for Hope 4 will be earmarked for the school lunch program in Lesotho, Africa. 

What can I win?
Jeanne at Cooksister is coordinating the UK side of things. Check out the prize list here.
Fellow bloggers Howard and Ben are offering an awesome prize at Bacchus. And Jess at RipeLondon is offering her own very special care package. To enter the drawing (which, apparently, is American for raffle/contest/competition) go to the donation website.

Many thanks, and my best for a happy and healthy holiday season. Until 2008!
Krista
P.S. Anxious for my return? Feel free to comment away on my Top 10 London Restaurants, My London Restaurant To Do List, and my Pimp my Blog poll!

Vietnamese: Little Hanoi

Little Hanoi
147 Curtain Road
EC2A  3QE
Tel: 020 7729 6868

Date of Last Visit: Thursday, 13 December 2007

The Victim: Ying

The Damage: Unknown! Ying paid!

The Background: I stood Ying up for lunch twice this week because of my own scheduling issues. Triple booked myself--I hate it when I do that. So Thursday was THE DAY--the time for me to make it up to her. I cleared my calendar for the afternoon so we could get together.

I've always walked right by Little Hanoi and their tempting buffet offer. (Cheaper still as a takeaway!) So it was about time to give it a shot. Stupidly, I got us a little lost on the way there. This is unbelievably stupid of me because it's not like I don't walk around the area all the time. I think I managed to eat up about 20 minutes of our valuable lunch time, trudging through the backstreets of Shoreditch.

The Starters: But finally, we made it to Little Hanoi. And Ying speaks Cantonese and so do the staff so all was right in the world. We ordered some summer rolls (as opposed to spring rolls?) on the advice of our server, along with some chili squid. I loved the squid--lightly fried (if there is such a thing) and dusted with thin chilli slices. I thought the summer rolls were okay...fresh and summery but a bit bland...I had to practically drown them in the brown sauce they were served with for them to taste like anything. (In all fairness, Ying rolled them in the brown sauce for me because she's much better with chopsticks than me. Although I'm certainly no slacker.)

All the while, I'm watching the buffet. It's a small little buffet. I tried to take a picture of the sign above it but felt too conspicuous. It basically said eat all you want, but if you waste anything, there will be a "wastage" fee of £1. If I had a £1 for every time my mother forced me to clean my plate as a child...

The Mains: On the advice of our server who I thought did a particularly thorough job of describing all the dishes in both English and Cantonese, I went for the dried chicken with chilli. It was served on a bed of white rice, with just the right amount of bean sprouts. Ying had the rice noodle soup with beef and she really liked it. We were both very satisfied.

Odd Observations: There was a very fully stocked bar. Intriguing. Also, Ying laughed at the chopstick wrappers that explained how to use the chopsticks inside. Apparently, you don't get this so much in China.

The Verdict: You know, I'd go back sometime. It was cheap and nice and I liked our server. And I need to get you a photo of that "wastage" sign. I can make a whole post out of that, for sure.

Middle Eastern: Shish

313 – 319 Old Street
EC1V 9LE
Tel: 020 7749 0999

Date of Last Visit: 11 December 2007

The Victims: Jon, Matt, John

The Damage: £40 total

The Background: Matt and John are leaving me...flying back to the U.S. next week. So I decided to take them out to lunch and invited Jon along for the trip.

I don't know why I haven't written about Shish before. God knows I've been there enough times. I like Shish because I am cheap. A big group can eat there for £10 a head. I also like Shish because I like hummous and pita.

The Food: Above, I wrote that A. I like Shish and B. I like hummous and pita. You would think that would mean that I would enjoy the intersection of the two (or three, as the case may be)...the ven diagram, I suppose. But you know...I'm not sure. I am not a huge fan of the hummous at Shish. I like the pita, but I bet it comes from a plastic bag. The hummous needs salt. (But remember my nationality as you read that.)

But I do like the meal deal at Shish. That's why I keep coming back. for £8.95, you get two mezes (hummous & pita for me, plus some red peppers with feta cheese) and a main dish. Plus a drink! My main was a chicken skewer with rice and a little bit of salad. It was good. But just good. I think the chicken was just the slightest bit underdone. Hmmm.

The Loos: I do not ever want to use these again. I could not wait to get out of there. Uggh. Purell!!

The Verdict: I betcha I'll be back to Shish by March. I know. Don't hate me.

Only in England...

Feathers and Matt were dishing these out at their annual Holiday Party. They're peanuts. Notice the flavo(u)r. I had to take a picture. They were served with a side of prawn (aka shrimp) flavo(u)red crisps. Just kidding. That would be equally gross. Yeah, we just don't get this stuff in America.

I'm also a little weirded out by the name on the tin...

Londonelicious Nominated for Best (Food-oriented) City Blog!

http://wellfed.net/2007/12/10/vote-best-food-blog-city/

I'm very pleased to announce that for the second year in a row, Londonelicious.com (aka Krista in London) has been nominated as the Best City Blog by the Well Fed Network.

This is pretty exciting for me, and if I may be so bold, I think it's pretty exciting for London too. We get a a lot of flak about the quality of London dining experiences and it's so not true, it's not funny. Perception-vs-reality. Bugger.

So if you've got a moment and wouldn't mind voting for my little London restaurant blog, I'd really appreciate it. You can cast your vote here: http://wellfed.net/2007/12/10/vote-best-food-blog-city/

Thanks!
Krista

P.S. Congrats to our other local entries...
The Guardian's Word of Mouth Blog
http://wellfed.net/2007/12/10/vote-best-food-blog-industry/

Jeanne at Cook Sister
http://wellfed.net/2007/12/10/vote-best-food-blog-writing/

P.P.S.
If you would like an easy-to-navigate list of all the nominees, go here: http://clickblogappetit.blogspot.com/2007/12/live-links-for-food-blog-awards.html

Trendy: Village East

Village East
171-173 Bermondsey Street
SE1 3UW
Tel: 020 7357 6082

Date of Last Visit: 30 November 2007

The Victim: Andrew

The Damage: Unknown! Andrew paid.

The Background: Andrew suggested meeting up at Village East for dinner. I have never been to the end of Bermondsey High Street--I've stepped no farther than The Garrison--and I am intrigued. A look at the Village East Web site has me even more intrigued. This place looks cavernous...many different lounging areas. That's the floor plan from the Web site in the image. I love floorplans.

I arrive a little late and am relieved that I am no later than Andrew. I hate being late. (You probably know this already.) I get a glass of something white and French and settle in at the White Bar by the entrance. I can see that the Lounge Bar is packed to the gills. Andrew arrives shortly thereafter and does the gentlemanly thing and swaps out my card for his on the tab. Only thing is...when they give me back my card, it is SO NOT my card. Funny. I get a little worried about credit card fraud.

So let me tell you about the atmosphere at Village East. It isn't as big as the floor plan online makes it seem..it's cozier somehow. It's very Scandinavian warehouse. There is a lot of wood and interesting lights and Danish furniture. You might know that I am a sucker for Danish modern, so I like the look of Village East off the bat.

We are shown to our table in the back and I am surprised...the front of Village East is packed. Not so the back. It's maybe half-full, although later on in the evening, all the tables do perk up.

The Service and The Starters: Our server is great. She is knowledgeable and smart. It kinda seemed like she was in the wrong line of work, and I wondered if she had an aptitude for finance. That being said, I was trying to decide between the scallops & chorizo or the pumpkin soup and she suggested the pumpkin soup because it was so dreadful outside. The pumpkin soup--which seemed to have some spinach ravioli at the bottom of it?--was really nice, but it just wasn't for me. Oh, and it also arrived about three minutes after we ordered it, which was weird. I felt a little rushed. Our server apologized for that...it wasn't her fault, it was the kitchen's.

The Mains: For mains, I chose the sea bass and it came with asparagus (out of season, but nice just the same) and slices of orange and grapefruit. I accidentally ate a slice of grapefruit and it was so so so very bitter, it was awful. I choked up on it. Weirdly, I had some problems with the cutlery...I don't know if my plate was on an angle or if there was just no lip on the plate, but as I would cut into the dish, my fork would fly across the plate and land in my lap. This was weird.

The Dessert: Dessert was lemon tart and it was nice. But just nice. It came with a scoop of ice cream and the ice cream was MELTED which was odd. Why would they serve melted ice cream? That's no fun.

All this was washed down with a bottle of something white and French that I fear was dreadfully expensive. Hmmm.

The Verdict: The food was nice. Lots of people would like it. If I were going out with a group of single girlfriends, or maybe some NYers, I would consider taking them here. I probably wouldn't go out of my way though.

The Leicester Square Challenge

So I am reading The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford. I thought this passage was pretty interesting:

"Inside information also means that it is hard to get a decent meal in a tourist trap like London's Leicester Square, Times Square in Manhattan or the Plaka in Athens. With few exceptions, the hungry visitor will pay a lot for mediocre cuisine. Tourists are willing to pay high prices because they have no sense of where better alternatives, even just a few streets away, might be found.

But the tourist-trap phenomenon is not just about high prices. If it was, we would see a wide range of restaurants, charming little bistros, and downmarket pasta or burger joints, all kinds of food from superb to disastrous, all charging a premium. Instead, we see a truncated market--high quality places, whether the good food is fried chicken or fine dining, are simply not to be found.

I think the reason is simple enough; tourists will only be making a single visit and will find it hard to pick out the great food from the bad. Good restaurants all locate where they are more likely to be appreciated by more informed locals. The bad ones remain...the "lemons" of the restaurant trade."

So as a service to tourists everywhere, I'd like to start a list....The Best Restaurants in and Around Leicester Square List. But I need your help.

If some tourists stopped you in the middle of Leicester Square and asked you where they should have lunch within a five minute walk, where would you send them?

Japanese: Tomoe

Tomoe
62 Maryleborne Lane
W1U 2PB
Tel: 020 7486 2004

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, November 24th, 2007

The Victim: Me, myself, and I

The Damage: £10

The Background: So the other week, I put up a desperate cry for help on Chowhound. I needed a new lunch spot convenient to Oxford Street. You might know that I love nothing more than a few interesting rolls and some sashimi on a Saturday afternoon as I am shopping. And I am tired of the Yo in Selfridges, and well, eating at Yo all the time is certainly not helping my London restaurant blog. My fellow Chowhounders rushed to my aid, and Tomoe was suggested by a highly respected member of the community.

The Entrance: Tomoe is all black and red and everyone is SO happy to see me as enter at around 12:30 on a Saturday. The tables and chairs are a little retro. Think early 80s dining sets. I like it. It seems like fa family run type of place. Before I can even ask for tea--it's a little chilly out--a steaming cup is brought to my table. Now that's service. They bring over the menu and I quickly decide...the sashimi set menu, which comes with an assorted plate of sashimi, a green salad, miso soup, some pickles, and some rice.

The Food: The food arrives lickety split. The fish is amazingly fresh. The green salad had been sitting in the fridge for a while, but the miso dressing made up for that. Loved the miso dressing. Loved the miso soup--how can you not. Loved how they kept filling up my tea. Loved how the bill was only £10.

The Verdict: I loved the lack of pretention. I loved the service. I loved the food. I loved the decor, random as it was. I loved the Japanese menus hanging up and around. I will go back here many times.