londonelicious: a london restaurant blog

You Don't See This Much in London

Guess where I've been?

Have no fear...There's lots more to come. Coffee and cake at the Coffee Cup in Hampstead with Joanne, whom I've known since kindergarten. Westbourne House in Westbourne Grove with Rutton and Evren. Sushi at Roka with Jeff. And a few meals from my trip.

And for all those who have asked over the last few days..."Are you going to write about this on your blog?" The answer is "Why yes, of course. That's what I do. When I'm not thinking about data, that is."

Modern European: No. 5 Cavendish Square

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No 5 Cavendish Square
5 Cavendish Square
W1G 0PG
Tel: 020 7079 5000

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, January 20th

The Victims: 13 of them

The Damage: £50ish.

The Background:It is Muna's birthday and we are surprising her with dinner at No 5 Cavendish Square. There are 13 of us and she is floored when she walks in and sees all of us. I lose track of the number of times she says "Thank you guys sooo much" durinng the course of the evening.

Starters: We are off to a strong start. My pea soup is thick and rich and there's a nice little crispy puddle of fried onions and garlic in the middle. Consensus is mixed around the table, however. Sam thinks it needs salt. Muna says it is too rich. I, in my Goldilocks ways, think it is just right.

Mains: Ugh. Black cod miso. It just doesn't look right. The fish looks ill. I eat about 1/3 and leave the rest behind. It is served on a bed of salty Asian noodles. Too salty for me. I am disappointed.

Dessert: It looks old. It tastes old. Part of me wonders if they prepared the dessert...a trio of chocolate...at 10 am and left it out all day to serve at 10 p.m.

Service: We are dining with a number of Muslims (obviously so) and Jen and I are abstaining in January. The servers might be trying to be cute about their reactions to the way we continuously decline the wine list, but then they are just annoying. How many times did I have to explain no alcohol? About five times too many. Also, they were not keen on my tap water request and kept foisting bottled water on us. After a few attempts on my part to get tap refills, I gave up. £4.50 a bottle. We drank £18 quid of water. That's disgusting. 

Also, one server kept touching me. She kept putting her hands on my shoulders. I was ready to slap her. I don't often get angry.

Ambiance. Its a cool place. It's like eating in a mansion. A red and gold leaf mansion. There's a club downstairs that was just filling up with pretty young things as we made to depart around midnight. I felt fat.

The After-affects: I texted Julie and Jen the next morning to let them know that I felt ill--hungover, actually--which was odd considering that I hadn't drank anything but water the night before or in the days and weeks before. Jen texted back immediately...oddly enough, she too felt hungover and just told her boyfriend that a few hours earlier. A mild case of food poisoning? (I was fine by 2 p.m.) Interestingly, Jen and I ate completely different things--besides for the bread that was served with something pico-de-gallo-esque.

The Verdict: Yeah, probably not.

French: Le Garrick

Le Garrick
10-12 Garrick Street
WC2E 9BH
Tel: 020 7240 7649

Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, January 8, 2008

The Victims: Julie, Feathers, Anna, Stacey, Kellie, Jen

The Damage: £35ish. No booze.

The Background: It's our annual Secret Santa exchange. Feathers has coordinated who gets who again this year using elfster.com, which even lets you ask anonymous questions of your assigned Secret Santa recipient. So I knew that Anna wore a size 9 shoe (American sizes) and that with a baby on the way, short stories would be her preference in literature. I know I'm biased, but I do think I was quite a good Secret Santa. I got Anna some nice stuff.

Jen has suggested Le Garrick as our destination and I can see why. If I were taking me on a date, I might take me here. It's dark and candlelit and romantic and it is full of nooks and crannies. We have one of the basement nooks to ourselves--there are a few tables at street-level, but the cute-factor is probably higher in the basement--and it is perfectly cozy for our party of seven.

The Service: Our server is nice but has a tendency to walk off mid-order. One person asks for a Coke, the server says "sure," and then she jets off while the rest of us are still jones'ing for a cocktail. For the record though, we all abstained from the juice during the course of the evening and no one looked at us funny, which was nice, particularly given that we were in a wine bar.

The Starters: So...the baguette slices arrive and they are perfectly acceptable. We order the charcuterie and some cheese that is described as fondue. It is a tub of melted cheese which I would, if I were a better blogger and foodaphile, know the name of (the cheese, that is). You can't go wrong with a tub of melted cheese among seven gals. We were quite content.

The Mains: For mains, I went with the cassoulet, which I became enamored of during my time in Paris. (Strangely, I've never covered any of the Paris restaurants I ate it.) The cassoulet is chock full of beans--and I'm not convinced they are fully cooked. One sausage, split open. And a duck leg? It was okay. But I felt like it was a lot of beans. Firm beans. Nott being a cassoulet expert, I can't tell you if this is or isn't the right way to let ou cass.

I am sitting here with Feathers as I write this a week or two later...she had the steak and chips and peppercorn sauce and she says the steak was one of the better ones she's had in London. (Also, she's just added that the melted cheese starter was "damn good.")

The Dessert: I wasn't really planning on dessert, but once everyone else placed their order, I took the leap. Tarte banane for me, and it was a surprisingly light and delicious treat, although I am sure there were 700 calories hidden in there somewhere.

The Verdict: if someone asked me for a romantic venue, I might send them here.

Bar Food: Big Red

385 Holloway Road
N7 0RY
Tel: 020 7609 6662

Date of Last Visit: Friday, 18 January

The Victims: Gerry, Ben

The Damage: £10 or so?

The Background: In Chicago, one of my favorite bars in the entire world was Delilah's on Lincoln, just south of Diversey. Great music. Mixed crowd. Excellent beers. (Who doesn't love $2 PBR's???) So when Gerry and Ben were talking about Big Red and the music and the crowd and the bar, I got pretty excited about the prospect of visiting because it sounded a lot like Delilah's. Now, going to a bar when you're taking a break from the sauce is an interesting thing...but out of all the people I've encountered this month thus far, the folks at Big Red gave me the least amount of hassle. Tap water? Fine. Diet Coke? Coming right up. Cranberry and soda? Done. Gotta give 'em credit for not blinking. I get the sense they've seen it all before.

The Entrance: Big Red is dark, and I'm very grateful for the smoking ban. The crowd early in the evening is gentrifying. Later in the evening, it's punk and goth and a little metal thrown in. Plus some dear old regulars, who I have to wonder about. Do they like totally dig Metallica? Because the juke box is playing Metallica. And Muddy Waters. And Talking Heads. And at £1 for three songs, I'm a sucker.

The Food: I go for the burger and fries; Gerry and Ben opt for fajitas, which look much better than they taste, apparently. My burger is serviceable but they forgot to toast the bun, which is unforgiveable. That's a lazy man's burger.

The Decor: The neon promises Coronas and Coors Light, neither of which are to be had. TVs blare "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" It all feels so random, yet so right.

The Loos: Need a power washing. But I've seen worse.

The Verdict: I'll go back for the crowd and the juke box. But first I need some tatoos.

P.S. Added a new post code. N7. Now that hasn't happened in a while.

Gastro: St. John (Archway)

St. John
91 Junction Road
N19 5QU
020 7272 1587

The Vicitms: Al, Louise, Darshak, Abba

The Damage: £35ish because Al was kind and didn't make me pay for the wine. This means that he enjoyed nearly an entire bottle on his own. I'm sorry, Al.

The Background: Ever since Al & Louise moved to Archway and Gerry & Ben moved to Holloway, I've been expanding my geographic horizons. I've been getting to know the London bus system better, assisting me in my "Year of the Bus" campaign. (At 90p, how can you not take the bus???)

I'd heard raves from both couples about St. John, so I was really eager to give it whirl. Al managed to get a late booking for a Friday night, which I felt awful about because it meant bundling up baby Oscar and keeping him up past his bedtime. (To clarify, Oscar is Al & Louise's baby; not mine.) But really, Oz didn't seem to mind and we didn't hear a peep out of him all night, bless him.

So--Entrance: Entrance is good. I like it. There's a bar up front and a restaurant in the back. I like the restaurant decor. There are many portraits on the wall, seemingly by the same artist. It's cool. It's somewhat library-esque too, although it's not a library. I can't explain it. Gentleman's club maybe? Regardless, it was dark and warm and inviting. And it's raining outside (again). So we're all very cozy.

Random Thoughts about Alcohol: So I'm taking a break from alcohol this January. I noticed Girl Dates London is doing the same, although January doesn't seem to be slowing down Stonch over at Stonch's Beer Blog or Douglas over at The Daily Wine. In veto'ing the vino, I've noticed a couple of things:
1. There's a lot of food out there with alcohol in it. (More to come on this in a bit.)
2. People look at you funny on a Friday night when you order a cranberry & soda. (I think C&S is much more interesting than just sticking with tap water.)
3. Some waitstaff can handle the non-drinkers more maturely and appropriately than others. (I will come back to No. 5 Cavendish Square in a few days and highlight how annoyingly pushy they were, and insensitive given that we were dining with a number of Muslims--obviously so. And maybe I was over-analyzing it the other night but I think the servers at Roka were desperate for us to order something besides water and tea.)
4. It's amazing what you can accomplish on a Saturday morning at 8 a.m.

I digress, so let's get back to the food...

The Starters: I order the crab bisque. And then I realize that there's probably alcohol in it. Al tries to reassure me that all the alcohol has been cooked off, but if I'm going to do this no alocohol thing, I'm going to do it right. I switch to the artichoke soup and it is FANTASTIC. I would love nothing more than to come home to this on a Sunday afternoon when it's raining outside, Nina Simone is on the radio, and there's a yellow lab at my feet. (For the record, I'm allergic to dogs, but this is a nice image isn't it?) We are off to a good start.

The Mains: I can't choose. I end up with the ribeye and chips which is odd for me because I'm not a steak person, really. The chips are nothing special. The ribeye is kinda messy. How can a steak be messy? It's almost like it's part braised or something. Or perhaps cooked once to rare and then cooked again to medium? I can't explain it. But it was just not for me.

The Dessert: I ask for the caramel ice cream. They're out. But our server recommends the rum raisin ice cream. No no no...alcohol--it's everywhere! I opt for vanilla and it's served with a little piece of shortbread that almost redeems my steak.

The Loos: Dirty, dirty, dirty. And cold. Cold and dirty is a bad combination. A good power washing, a smelly candle, and a flower or two would do wonders.

What I Learned: Abba assures me that there are NO monkeys in Delhi. This is interesting because my co-workers swear they were mauled by a swarm of wild monkeys in Delhi. 

The Verdict: I'm going to give St. John another shot. It's the artichoke soup. I can't stop thinking about it.

Crepes: The Creperie

The Creperie
95 The Stables Market
Camden Market

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, December 29th

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £5 or thereabouts, with a Diet Coke

The Background: I am wandering around looking at Danish furniture again. Thank God I've completed the table and chairs purchase. Now it's time for a sideboard.

Instead, I buy an ice bucket. A teak ice bucket. For £34.

I'm crazy. But at least I took the tube and not a taxi there and back.

The Food: So me and my ice bucket saddle up to The Creperie for a late lunch. I really wanted an arepa, but the guys must have been away for the holidays. So crepe it was.

I went savo(u)ry. For the daily special. Ham and cheese and spinach.

The ham was cheap ham. The cheese was congealed. The spinach tasted like old, wet spinach.

I threw it away. And I took my ice bucket and skedaddled.

The Verdict: Uggh. Plus...they were selling mulled wine for £2 and hot apple cider for £1. But the sign for the apple cider was obscured, so a couple of people just figured the £2 was the price of the apple cider too. I would have thought the same. As I was waiting for my crepe, I listed to the dudes behind the counter talk about how funny it was, that everyone was paying £2 for the apple cider when it was only £1. So not only was my crepe pretty gross, but they're rip off artists too.

Catch-Up: This list is more for me than for you, but I've got a lot of catching up to do...St. John in Archway, Le Garrick off of Covent Garden, Big Red in Holloway, No. 5 off of Oxford Circus, Westbourne House in Westbourne Grove...

Spanish: Fino

Fino
33 Charlotte Street
W1T 1RR
Tel: 0207 813 8010

Date of Last Visit: Friday, January 4

The Victims: K&A

The Damage: £35ish for me. K&A let me off easy.

The Background: We've been to see Atonement in Leicester Square. I cried. A lot. It was awful. I didn't expect to get that teary. So I look awful. I feel awful. Do you know that feeling? When you've been crying? It took me an hour or so to shake it.

K&A have booked us into Fino and I endear myself to them forever when I confidently insist I know exactly how to get there, and then I take them down that strange back alley with all the Spanish bars north of Tottenham Court. They lose all confidence in me.

The Entrance: So we are glad to arrive at Fino. Our table is ready, and it's a little weird. It's a table for three. Yes...it's a booth that fits two on one side and two anorexic people on the other. But it's fine and we get some olives and I get a Cranberry soda (off the sauce this month) and we settle in to order.

The Service: Around this time, it's obvious the waitstaff is not happy with each other. They are arguing so much that I have to ask what the problem is. Apparently, a table for eight has booked but multiplied on the way over. They are now 13. And Fino is not happy. Not happy at all. Parties of eight can order off the regular menu, but if you're more than eight, set menus are their preferred option to keep things easy on the kitchen. Our waitress would have waited on that table had they been eight, but now that they are 13, the manager takes over so the other tables aren't negatively affected. Good thinking. But next time, keep the upset-ness to the back-of-house.

The Starters: Anyhow...K&A start ordering...we have the mixed plate of meats, of which the chorizo is my fave. The tortilla is average. It looks lovely, but they've stuffed it with cooked, wet onions which I haven't expected and they are gooey and not to my liking. We have some squid which is nice.  And some almonds which are of course nice. But the star at this point are the ham croquettas, which we order more of and which take ages to arrive and which we have to ask after twice. Oh, and we don't really want to order the Bread with Marques de Valdueza Olive Oil--only K does--but we do and it's FANTASTIC.

The food is coming so quickly and we are so hungry that I am worried that this will be the fastest meal on record. I ask the staff to slow down and they tell me not to worry, these are just the starters and of course there will be a break between these and the next batch. Thank God.

Intermission: I check out the ladies and I like the set up. It's clean and I have my own sink and there are nice candles in the hallway. I also like the look of the bar area which you pass through on your way to the ladies--very 70s den. I would consider coming back here to hang out in the bar. I should mention that I check out the ladies a couple of times because of the pace at which I'm drinking my cranberry sodas and TAP WATER which is provided without blinking. But then I get a bit upset with myself for ordering the tap water because the bottled water they are serving is Belu and I've missed my chance to be a better person today.

The Second Act: The crisp pork belly with crackling is GREAT. The fries are sprinkled with garlic and rosemary, which is a very winning combination and one I'd like to see more of in 2008. We like the fries so much we order more. The octopus is not for me, and this is strange because I LOVE octopus. A. orders the brussel sprouts and we ask our server if they sell a lot of brussel sprouts and she says her last order was before Christmas. Hmmm. TMI. Pimentos de Padron are average--they are wet. At Eyre Brothers, they are served a bit more crispy and grilled, which I prefer. (Although in the grand scheme of things, I prefer Fino to Eyre Brothers, food-wise. 70s den-wise? Eyre Brothers still has the edge.)

The Verdict: I can't decide. It would be a good celebratory business dinner kind of place. (A business-business dinner would be weird because how can you share food and negotiate a contract at the same time? ) I would go back to the bar. Not sure if I would seek out the restaurant again for myself or friends and family.

Korean: Asadal

Asadal
227 High Holborn
WC1V 7DA
020 7430 9006

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, January 5, 2007

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £10, exactly. 

The Background: Why do we make the decisions (or take the decisions, as you say here) that we do? I really don't know what prompted me to get up on a Saturday morning and go out for Korean food. I was going to Selfridge's to get my eyebrows done and buy some facial cleanser, if you must know. And I had this idea about hitting Polo for lunch at some point during the afternoon.

But then...as it does tend to happen...I ended up getting on the 243 bus instead of the 55. (No coffee. Not thinking.) And the 243 lets you out at Holborn instead of heading west to Oxford Circus. So I was really mad at myself and I was standing on High Holborn, thinking. Thinking thinking. I'm sure people thought I was crazy. Crazy American tourist blocking their way. (There is something about my teeth that betrays my nationality.) And then I saw Asadal and I thought...hmmm...not Polo...but it's Korean...

The Entrance: It's empty. I'm empty. And I want some tofu soup. I explain this to my very kind waitress who looks at me funny and tells me that I can't possibly want the tofu soup because it has a very strong taste and I won't like it.

At which point I look at HER funny and tell her that I am sure I WILL like it and that I LIKE strong tastes. I also challenge her to further define "strong" (and to provide a specific example) but we seem to have hit a language barrier. I sit and wait and contemplate the obviousness of my dislike of being told what I will and will not like. I need to confirm for myself. (Apparently my two favorite sentences as a child were "Are you sure?" and "How do you know?")

Now I know that Korean restaurants in London are challenged by their traditional notions of providing "little dishes" complimentary at the start of the meal. They are challenged because Londoners are cheap and will gladly eat all the free food, swizzle a beer, and leave. So many a Korean restaurant in central London will charge for the free stuff, although apparently if I go to New Malden, I won't have this problem.

The Food: So I am pleased and delighted when the little dishes arrive...there's kimchee, of course, plus some spinachy looking substance that looks better than it tastes, and some sprouts, which are just okay. But hey, I wasn't expecting anything and life is good when your expections are exceeded.

I pay a quid for tea and it is hot and so it the cup it's served in--so hot that I can't hold the cup. So I have to wait about 10 minutes before I can quench my thirst. Why would they serve tea in a cup that conducts heat? I don't understand.

Here comes the tofu soup and it is just tofu soup. There is nothing "strong tasting" about it, except for a few green chillies that I am wise enough not to eat. Perhaps others have eaten the chillies and complained. I can not guess at the eating habits of those that have come before me. The soup is nice. It's a good, warming lunch.

The Service: Sweet. Low scores on the TOEFL though. No automatic service charge is added to the tab. Even sweeter. But I leave £1.25 anyhow.

The Verdict: It was good. But I still like Polo better.

I'll Show You Mine...Londonelicious in 2007

I spend a lot of time with data. And thinking about Google. And I like Matt Cutts. I like Matt Cutts even more because he just puts his traffic out there. (Matt is Google's official unofficial corporate blogger.)

So I was sorta inspired to do the same. So here you go...according to SiteMeter.com, here's what Londonelicious looked like in 2007. The bummer part is that I use the free version of SiteMeter, which only keeps 12 months of history, so I can't tell you what 2006 looked like. Or 2005. Or 2004. But I did just add Google Analytics over the summer, and that will keep all the history forever (and for free) so I won't have this problem in the future. 

In general, my Traffic Sources Overview** looks just like Matt's, which I find interesting...but then again, I am a dork.

My Top 5 Posts in 2007**
Mexican: Mucho Mas
The Leicester Square Challenge
I've Been Tagged. A Restaurant Meme.
Upper Street Burrito Battles
My Top 10 London Restaurants

My Top 5 Referring Web Sites (Not Including Search Engines)**

Ardeu a padaria (in Portugese) I helped João with some restaurant recs a while back. He must be huge in Portugal.

Well Fed Network I had a HUGE influx of traffic in December when I was nominated for Best Food-Oriented City Blog.

Jamfaced. Monkey Gland is BACK. And in Tokyo. And I am very jealous.

An American in London. A fellow American. In London. Who enjoys dining out. How funny!

Food & Drink in London. Howard and Ben. (They're not a couple, btw.  But man, do they know food.)

What do you think? Think I can do 7000 visitors a month by December 2008? I think I can.

**So this data is from Google Analytics, not SiteMeter. I only implemented GA on July 9, 2007. But I still think it's largely representative and accurate.

Not Completely Useless in the Kitchen...

Every year for the last few years, I've whipped up a batch of these little suckers around the holidays. Butterscotch Ginger Bread Cookies. Recipe courtesy of Nestle's Very Best Baking Web site. Gives me something to do when I'm not watching Dr. Phil and Oprah with mom. Love the combo of cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Excellent with milk.