Review: Koyal, Surbiton

Koyal is the third branch of the Dastaan empire. Unlike their Leeds restaurant, this time they’ve opened just a couple of miles up the road in Surbiton. It should make a big difference though: Dastaan is on a suburban shopping parade miles from the nearest train station, meaning anyone from central London has quite the …

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Ukiyo

Review: Ukiyo Hand Roll Bar, Covent Garden

So I need to foreshadow this review. I love sushi and sashimi, except for one element of it. The thin seaweed sheet used for wrapping rice in various sushi forms. It’s often hard to bite through, and the texture is neither crispy nor yielding. It’s essentially the closest thing to chewing on paper that exists …

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Glass nooooodles

Review: Liu Xiaomian, The Jackalope, Marylebone

Needing lunch, we settled on noodles at Liu Xiaomian, which has been cooking in the basement of the Jackalope pub in a quiet Marylebone mews for a few years now. This really isn’t one of the modern, polished, faux-street-food restaurants that have been springing up all over the trendy corners of London recently (most of …

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Review: Bala Baya, Southwark

So. Bala Baya describes itself as a Middle Eastern restaurant, as do a few review sites that perhaps keep their info updated. But older reviews and articles, that no-one ever updates, call it an Israeli restaurant. It doesn’t take much nouse to realise why they have re-badged themselves “Middle Eastern” as thoroughly as they can! …

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Review: Som Saa, Spitalfields

One of the first new-breed Thai restaurants in London, I was put off visiting Som Saa for a long while due to a sad episode of racism tangled up with the restaurant six years ago (here’s a relevant Twitter thread). But we were at Spitalfields and needed lunch, and I’m optimistic enough to hope that …

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Review: Koyal, SurbitonReview: Ukiyo Hand Roll Bar, Covent GardenReview: Liu Xiaomian, The Jackalope, MaryleboneReview: Bala Baya, SouthwarkReview: Som Saa, Spitalfields

Review: Woodfire, Stockbridge

Categories:

Cafes etc., Rest of UK, Restaurant Reviews

26 March 2016

Quickie this, and no photos, totally forgot. Well, all we were looking for was a bite of lunch on our way down to Winchester. Stockbridge is a postcard-perfect little town in the Test Valley in deepest Hampshire. For me, the Test Valley is perhaps the most beautiful bit of rural countryside in the whole south of England. It is magical and the villages are all a delight – they accomplish with old red bricks, thatch and flint what the Cotswold villages manage more effortlessly with their golden limestone.

Anyway, Woodfire is billed as pizza & mezze, and has a great little riverside location right in the middle of the high street. They’ve got a bright front room, another back room, and a few tables on the terrace for those sunny days. You will fight for those with hikers and cyclists, though. Did I mention the Test Valley was quite picture-skew?

Pizzas are the order of the day, and we split a daily special – nduja, mozzarella and turnip leaves. They’ve sourced some great mozzarella, always a good start. The pizza base was thin, with a glossy and crisp-edged crust. The spicy nuggets of nduja explode with the cheese and bread so much more than a slice of pepperoni or chorizo, and the wilted and slightly salty turnip leaves, with their lovely turnip-y taste that make you start thinking about kimchi, were a smart companion. Great pizza.

We ordered a couple of mezzes to go with. Baba ganoush was lovely, managing to be both fresh with the juicy aubergines but also carrying that lovely burnt smoky taste without which lesser specimens are just meh. The scattering of pomegranate on top was an absolutely spot-on addition. The other dish was a smooth and creamy (and garlicky!) hummus with a pile of slow-cooked shredded lamb on top. This was very lovely too, though a bit of a big bowl of hummus to attack without any bread.

Pizzas are around £11-ish depending which you order, big enough for one for dinner. Oh, and they make a dang good cup of coffee to boot! So rare. So especially rare in small country towns where you’re much more likely to find earnest salts-of-the-earth serving up delicious local produce and scorched crap in a cup with it. Woodfire’s coffee is excellent. Woodfire is excellent. Lucky Stockbridge!

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Review: The Dogs, Edinburgh

Categories:

Pubs, Rest of UK, Restaurant Reviews

26 March 2016

The Dogs, indeed!

The Dogs, indeed!

The Dogs is one of those great little finds, someone cooking good food without pretension in a kinda ramshackle and unexpected corner of a city. I’m reminded of Strathvagin in Glasgow. Dogs are a very literal theme, from the front door all the way up the old staircase, and into the bar and dining room overlooking Edinburgh New Town, there’s a truly eclectic mixture of canines in 2D or 3D form. The dining room still gives the strong impression of someone’s old front room, converted into an eating space for thirty or so punters tucked in fair cosily (though not so cosy as to be uncomfortable).

My starter was a wonderful little dish of devilled ox kidneys. Ox kidneys aren’t quite as nice as lamb’s kidneys, and I couldn’t give a stuff because the devilled sauce was absolutely magical; hot, spicy, creamy, boozy, sexy goodness. Maureen had a little salad of pulled lamb; shreds of meat with a powerfully sheepish flavour and cleverly scattered with pomegranate.

Lamb n stuff

Lamb n stuff

Mains were truly heart-warming. I ordered roast lamb but was served the mutton stew. It smelled so good that I was half-way through before remembering that it wasn’t what I’d ordered. Lovely mutton, good dish for a blustery winter’s evening, it’s hard to find words to wax lyrical about a nice stew so I’ll fall back on: mmmmmmm. Maureen’s spelt risotto with beetroot and crowdie cheese was delicious, although to be honest it was such a single-minded dish that it might’ve been better as a starter or – as we enjoyed it – split pretty much 50/50 with another main (my stew). Nice combination of the nutty grain, grainy cheese and earthy beetroot flavours.

Pudding was the only disappointment; an orange posset that was too stiff with gelatin/agar and also lacked enough punch to its orange flavour to be very interesting. I’m going to damn it with faint praise and call it innocuous.

That aside, we enjoyed our meal at The Dogs very much. Even more so as the price is rock-bottom for the very centre of Edinburgh, many of the mains just a tenner and 3 courses being only about £20. We had a couple of decent glasses of wine for equally slight money. Go on, go to the dogs!

Loved these devils

Loved these devils

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Review: Eat Wild, Cirencester

Categories:

Cafes etc., Rest of UK, Restaurant Reviews

28 February 2016

Clown Killer

Clown Killer

Oh wow, that was a good burger. No, it was a great burger! And just for good measure, it came with great fries. Oh, and Maureen’s pulled venison lasagne was super-great too, with star anise to give it whumph. And then for afters I scoffed a stick toffee pudding with so much (oh so very good) sauce that you’d have to be a positive sugar junkie to manage it all. So, yeah, Eat Wild gets a big thumbs-up from me! You should go!

You want more? Okay, well, it’s decorated in the spartan, industrial, found-items style that is getting kinda common, though I must admit I like their approach more than most – impressive stags spray-painted onto one wall, our table made from a huge wooden cable spool, the bottle shelves behind the bar actually an eviscerated grand piano. The guys were friendly and clearly passionate about their food and drink. The name is a clue, by

Eat Wild

Eat Wild

the way – though my burger was beef, much of the concise menu is given to game. Even though they take bookings (and you probably need one – Eat Wild is getting popular!) this is very, very, very casual dining.

Bit more on the food too. I’m not the kind of burger aficionado who could write an entire blog titled “Burger Me!” about my passionate search across the UK for the perfect filthy burger. So I’m really only qualified to say that this was (a) beautifully flavoursome beef, (b) cooked to a pitch perfect pink-within-but-seared-without, (c) tucked in a deliciously soft bun that was still strong enough to hold together once soaked in meat juice, and (d) splendidly paired with excellent streaky bacon and just the right amount of cheese, caramelised onion, ketchup and mustard. They call it a “Clown Killer” presumably because if Ronald McDonald tried one he would simply have to give up and put a bullet in his brain.

Bambi in a blanket

Bambi in a blanket

And then… pulled venison lasagne! How stunning does that sound? Well, it tasted as good as it sounds. Like someone had gently tucked bambi into bed under a couple of cosy sheets of pasta, bathed him in bechamel sauce and bunged him in the oven for an hour. There was no mistaking this for beef, it held the distinct game taste of deer (the chalk on the wall said today’s venison was fallow) given depth by judicious spicing.

The sticky toffee pudding was a great one: when the pudding itself is moist and delicious enough without the sauce, you know you’re onto a winner. I don’t think I’ve ever had one with so many dates stuffed into it. Positively fruity. The toffee sauce, super-sweet with just enough bitter edge to stop it cloying, was gleeful. They make a good cup of coffee too, and all the plates are perfectly sensible prices; around a tenner.

STP

STP

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Review: Castle Terrace, Edinburgh

Categories:

Fine dining, Michelin, Rest of UK, Restaurant Reviews

28 February 2016

Skate yawn

Skate yawn

At some point I just got bored and stopped eating my skate. Which is, really, one of the worst things you can say about a restaurant when you’re forking out over a hundred per person.

This was my main course, “seared skate grenobloise with crushed pink fir apple potatoes and sea kale”. Seared implies flame-kissed, right? There’s gotta be some blackening somewhere if you want to call a thing seared? This wasn’t, it was floured and pan fried like any other good ol’ bit of skate. And that’s all it was – neither the greatest nor worst piece I’ve ever had, ho hum. Plenty of it, served atop a thick swathe of crushed potatoes so thoroughly buttered that there wasn’t the remotest taste of pink fir apple left. And some caper butter. So, a nice Friday night fish supper.

Venison pate en croute

Venison pate en croute

The dining room at The Castle Terrace is kinda uninspired as well, a bit starchy and unfortunately ’round the corner from the actual castle terrace so there’s no splendid view. It’s one of those cool, restrained rooms with nothing about it to remember or fall in love with. These impressions feed off each other though; if I’d loved the food I’d probably have something better to say of the setting. Service was good, and our sommelier picked out some decent glasses to match the food.

Maureen’s main was pheasant with seared foie gras and Perigord truffles. Well, I guess it certainly was all those things. Big lump of pheasant breast. Nicely seared foie gras. Lots of slivers of black truffle. It can’t really not taste good with those ingredients, although that amount of solid white meat became a bit… ahem… boring after a while. Theme developing.

Wandering back to starters, mine was a venison pate en croute; sturdy texture and good taste with decent pastry and an inoffensive bit of stewed pear on the side. Maureen’s starter of gurnard tartare involved a large amount of lovely fine-diced raw fish, nicely citrusy, with a few bits and blobs of rhubarb far too discrete to have any impact on the dish.

Sesame snaps

Sesame snaps

Forward again to dessert, and my millefeuille of apple and sesame seed was dominated by the (admittedly good) sesame snape. Those are sesame snaps, right? I really had to search for the apple flavour. Maureen’s concoction of rhubarb was good.

You could accuse us of having chosen “safe” menu options. But that’s half the fun at this kind of level of fine dining: to pick something seemingly familiar off the menu and discover what wonders the chef has conjured with it. This was just a whole meal of “oh, yeah” and shrugs. I felt as though I’d taken an amiable wander back into the fine dining of the 90’s and perhaps that’s exactly what many people want – certainly all the cooking itself was tip-top, just uninteresting. Anyway, for about £65 per person a la carte before drinks, that’s what you’ll get.

Truffle monster

Truffle monster

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Review: The Karczma, Birmingham

Categories:

Rest of UK, Restaurant Reviews

31 January 2016

While it pours with rain outside

While it pours with rain outside

I should be making witty remarks about the completely unironic kitsch of The Karczma, a 200% Polish restaurant in a dubious corner of Birmingham city centre. But all I want to do is MOAN ABOUT THE STUPID CRAPPY WEATHER WE’VE BEEN HAVING FOR THE PAST, LIKE, NINE MONTHS OR SOMETHING. We have never been so soaked, windswept, indigested and sniffly as we felt after the monumental typhoon trudge across Birmingham’s concrete wastelands back to the car, my fine umbrella – stalwart of many adventures – crushed to rags and twisted metal in my hand.

Which is all a bit unfair on poor Karczma, because we had a flippin’ lovely meal and they can hardly be blamed for the monsoon waiting outside. So back to that kitsch. Wow. The interior has been laid out in painstaking detail to be more cheesily folksy than the most touristic beer hall in old Krakow, with sheepskins over the benches, painted scenes of rural life on the walls, a thatched ceiling and bits of old agricultural equipment placed amiably in corners.

Beetroot soup - inspired

Beetroot soup – inspired

Yes, a thatched ceiling. Yes. But when you go that far over the top you’re bound to win my heart. The staff are cheerful and helpful too. The wine by the glass is decent, Argentinian in our case.

The food is heartwarming. That’s an understatement. My heart feels like it has been tucked into bed under a patchwork quilt by a tiny Polish grandmother while the last few glowing embers crackle and pop in the hearth and snow patters against the tiny leaded windows. I’m also utterly, utterly stuffed. And a tiny bit guilty as there’s still plenty left on the plate.

I chose the pierogis to start and got three huge specimens. Filled with cream cheese, onion and potato they were incredibly soothing and more full of flavour than you could expect from that combination. Maureen’s beetroot consomme was just amazing; slightly pickled, deep in flavour, beautiful in colour, and on the menu as vegetarian so somehow accomplished without the usual trick of chicken stock to amp up the flavours. It came with a couple of crusty little pastries filled with mushroom duxelles.

Knuckle n stuff

Knuckle n stuff

Maureen won the main course too, with “beef stew wrapped in a potato pancake”. Doesn’t sound like much, but it was a very good beef stew. The pancake was the star though; a huge and fluffy mass that soaked up gravy like a sponge without losing any of its fluffiness, and had its own magnificent flavour that I can’t actually identify but somehow involved wonderful green peppers and the burnt brown edges they had given it. Which is to say nothing bad about my glazed pork knuckle, a gigantic chunk of pink and piggy meat, soft inside and chewy sweet on the glazed edges. Served with super-fresh white horseradish, mustard, a generous bowl of funky sauerkraut and baked potatoes that were an exactly perfect texture and slightly oaky/waxy in flavour.

Although the sheer size of the portions defeated me, I left Karczma very happy (for about five seconds, before several gallons of water were blown in our faces). We ended up spending £22 each on 2 courses without drinks and the quality of the cooking is just about spot on for this. Especially as I took one of my huge pierogis home in a napkin (sssssh!) so I’ve got tomorrow’s breakfast sussed.

Karczma, in all its glory

Karczma, in all its glory

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