Belle Bhel Puri

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LOCATION: Roti Chai, Portland Mews London W1

THE PLACE:  The restaurant was airy and spacious. It felt a bit canteeny (in a nice way), but with individual tables so you’re not sitting next to people you don’t know.

THE SERVICE: It was very quick and very friendly. The food came very fast. When the waiter found out that I was writing a review about the restaurant he introduced me to the owner which made me feel rather important all of a sudden.

WHAT I HAD: I had a Prapri Chaat. It was creamy because of the yoghurt and fruity because of the pomegranate and chutney. The chickpeas, coriander and potato that are stuffed inside have a neutral flavour (by this I mean they taste plain and simple). This makes them the perfect balance to the spiciness. The texture is soft and crunchy.

I also had a Bhel Puri. The tamarind and tomato gave it a slight tang. The puffed rice gave it a crunchy texture. I might say it was AMAZING but it’s much better than that: it’s No1 in my best meal of the century list!!!

I also had a…

Railway lamb curry. The lamb was chewy but not tough, it was just right. This curry had a tomato base. Unfortunately, the chilli element was too strong, even for me which is why they probably put bread with it on the side.   

I also had a…

Rice pudding.                                                                                                                            Ok, you’re probably thinking to yourself: rice pudding??? What a simple dish!!! He can’t ACTUALLY be bothered to review something interesting. That nothekidsmenu guy is so lazy!

But there is a reason why I reviewed this- it’s because it is not a regular rice pudding. It looks like custard and the texture is like custard but there are also other ingredients, namely coconut, pistachio and saffron (so definitely not “regular”). I thought the dish was a little too sweet, but overall, it was brilliant.

RATING: A……………………………………………………………………..10/10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

A taste of Afganistan

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LOCATION:Ariana 2, Kilburn, London

THE PLACE: I’ve been to this restaurant already before I started this blog and I LOVED the food here so don’t be surprised if I give this restaurant a good review. The reason why this restaurant is called “Ariana 2″ and not “Ariana” is because this is the second branch to the first “Ariana” established in New York in 1986. But after 09/11 (when the planes crashed into the twin towers in New York, organised by Al-Qadea, the Afghan terrorist organisation), no one went to Afghan restaurants anymore because they hated them, so they all went bust. However, Ariana “survived” because the owner was so friendly to his customers. He then opened one in London called Ariana 2.

There are Afghan pictures on the walls showing Afghanistan and a big red carpet on the floor. There is a camel tapestry on the wall.

THE SERVICE: The waitresses had eyeliner in an Afghan style ( if you’re a boy reading this, ask a girl what eyeliner is). They were very friendly and the food came surprisingly fast.

WHAT I HAD: I had some lamb samosas .

There were so many, I shared them with my family. I found them excellent but a little greasy . For those who don’t like spicy food, there are great because they are not too spicy. The samosas came with some garlic sauce with mint.

I also had a Yoghurt Drink

It looks like a milkshake with black particles. When you first try it, it tastes salty and bitter but after a few sips it tastes better and better until its soft and creamy with a delicious hint of mint. I also had a lamb tikka kebab

 

It was one long kebab with oily rice and a salad on the side. The lamb kebab is not just plain lamb, it is slightly spicy, minced then moulded into a long sausage shape . The rice makes  it taste even better.

RATING: I would rate my meal a good 9/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

flavour flavour flavour flavour!

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LOCATION: St Ali, Clerkenwell, London Ec1

THE PLACE: It was a very big restaurant with exposed brick on the walls and a bar. There was a living wall (a wall covered in vegetation) with flowers, vines and exotic plants. We shared a wooden table made from reclaimed railway sleepers – they are the wooden bits that go between railway tracks. There were people relaxing having breakfast, a nice mixed crowd in their 30′s, a couple of babies but no children. A lady next to us showed us how to use a Kindle (those electronic books).

THE SERVICE: They were quick and very polite, especially a waitress called Kate. She was from Australia and she spoke about her brother coming over to live here. The food came quite  fast.

WHAT I HAD: I had a Dexter Hamburger with Ratte potatoes ( which are oven baked in olive oil – or at least my mum does them that way) and Comte  cheese (which is a French cheese, hard with a strong and slightly sweet taste).

The burger had lettuce and aioli and pickle with a bun ( I added a bit of ketchup). I’ve noticed that I say “flavours” all the time so I’m going to review this meal without saying that word. I’ve also noticed that I eat burgers all the time and if not, steak tartare so this will be my last red meat review for a while.  But back to the burger; the consistency was firm and not mushy like other burgers can be. The aioli was perfect for dipping the potatoes although I also asked for ketchup.

I also had a piece of  banana bread with a date and orange compote :It came with vanilla icecream and raspberries. It was very good but I found the date and orange sauce a bit bitter and it did not go well with the banana bread. But then on the whole it was very good: lots of fla( Damn! not that word!!!).

RATING: Because all the meals of my parents and sister were delicious, my mum’s sweetcorn fritters were exceptional, and we all really liked Kate, our waitress, I would give St Ali a 9.5/10.

La France

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LOCATION: Fernand, Bordeaux, France.

 

THE PLACE: There weren’t that many people. We ate outdoors but there were so many parasols it was as if you were indoors. There were lots of plants and the tables were quite small.

 

THE SERVICE: It was very friendly, but a little slow.

 

WHAT I HAD: I had a “ Tartare de boeuf” ( A Steak Tartare). Each time I see one on the menu I always order it and ignore the other meals which I think might be  my weakness as an apprentice restaurant critic.

The waitress came with a tray full of sauces (Tabasco, Vinegar, Mustard) as well as herbs, capers, onion and salt and pepper and an egg. On the side was a bowl and a plate with what looked liked plain raw meat, just like that. Then to my horror she picked up the meat, put it in a bowl and then tossed all the ingredients with it. Usually, I’ve had to mix it myself or it arrives at the table already mixed. What was she doing? To my relief my dad told me that a traditional Steak Tartare  has the ingredients added in front of you, while you watch. When she finished, she put it back on my plate and handed it to me.

I said  ”Je vous remercie” (a very polite“Thank you” for those who can’t speak a word of French.)

Originally Steak Tartare is a French dish but all the Steak Tartares I’ve tried in France are complete  fails (even my dad says so and he is 100 per cent French)  and the English ones are WAY better then the “Frogs legs” ones. But this one was incredible!

There were so many tastes going on in my mouth: the capers, the onions, the herbs, the egg, the meat…

The only downside was that the texture was like mash potato because the waitress had mashed it up so much with the ingredients….

 

BUT NEVER MIND ABOUT THAT!

For pudding I had a “mirroir” which is a pistachio crumble with chocolate and it looks like a mirror (apparently) because of its chocolate glaze.

It had a soft creamy flavour and  a slight vanilla-ish touch to the texture. It was very sweet and on the top was a piece of chocolate that accompanied it very well.

RATING: A good 9/10

 

Spice Zone

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LOCATION:       Masala Zone, Bayswater, W2, London

THE PLACE:  The dining area was huge with a wall covered in a collage of big posters, with pictures of Indian women on them, indian gods, motorbikes, fruit. There were big windows overlooking  Bishop’s bridge road.

THE SERVICE: Quick and VERY friendly and the food came in about 1 minute! All at once!

WHAT I ATE: I had a bhalla papdi chaat which is 3 lentil dumplings with potato and yoghurt with tamarind chutney which was a bit sharp and fruity. It reminded me of coconut, even if it didn’t actually have any. It was served cold. I would recommend it to whoever dosn’t like chile.

But I would also recomend the : Shikampuri kebab

This consisted of two well-spiced lamb patties with some spicy sauce served on the side and a salad which er.. I didn’t eat. The minced lamb kebabs were delicious. The spices with the lamb fitted together so well it was as if they were made for each other. It was a little spicy but not so hot that you needed a bowl of rice to regulate the pain. (My test for how spicy something is).

But I am also recommending the : Goa prawn curry.

This was white rice with a curry with bits of prawn in it. That curry was one of the best dishes I’ve ever tried in my whole life. It had a nice coconutty flavour and which combined with the prawns and the rice  just made it so tasty I shall have the taste inscribed in my head forever… The only downfall was was that it was WAY to spicy for me so I had to eat my mum’s rice as well as my own. My mouth is still burning… and I think I might be sick after having pizza for supper at my friend’s house.

RATING: A 9/10

In search of a good pancake…

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LOCATION: The Riding House Cafe, London W1

THE PLACE: It had a massive bar and comfy chairs. There were some shelves by the wall as decoration and if you looked carefully, you could see a Smurf among them.

THE SERVICE: They were slow but nice.

WHAT I ATE: Gabriele, one of my readers,  asked me to find a place with good pancakes for her to have breakfast, so I had some buttermilk pancakes with berries and vanilla clotted cream. There were very few berries, you can count them in the picture. I hate to tell you this, but it wasn’t very good. It just did not have much flavour. It tasted dry without the maple syrup that was served on the side. I didn’t eat it all.

What was a bit better was the Steak Tartare, served as a small plate with three melba toasts, which is like French bread sliced thinly and grilled. Normally this is my favourite dish in the whole world. Once you get over the fact that it’s raw beef, minced or chopped, if you get a good one, it’s amazing.  In France most of the ones I’ve tried are terrible, even though it’s a French dish.  This one was quite good but too salty and had too many capers, although the onions, meat and herbs mixed well together and it tasted fresh.

Then because I still wasn’t so happy my Dad suggested I  try a Sea Bass Ceviche. Ceviche is a Latin American term for marinated food.  A marinade is when you put lots of herbs and salt and pepper or other seasoning and you leave it for a while on whatever you want to cook (usually meat or fish).  You leave it for about an hour or two, the longer the better and it makes it full of flavour.  Anyway, the Ceviche looked a bit like the steak tartare only in white.  It had sweetcorn, chilli and herbs. It was delicious and I ended up finishing it.  My Dad says the sweetcorn was not needed but I thought it made it sweeter.  It was still a bit salty.

I’ve cut my nails since this picture and my mum has pointed out that two forks isn’t the best way to eat.

RATING: this is a 6/10.

Korean Missile

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LOCATION: Soju, Great Windmill Street, Soho, London W1

THE PLACE: It’s a small restaurant with a bar and the wall is painted with a scene of traditional Korean women, sitting on the floor of their house eating soup.  The atmosphere was made more lively when my dad mistakenly fired a toy missile from my new HALO Mega Blocs tank (it was my birthday present) at the people on the next table, but luckily they thought it was funny.  He then turned a small incident into a bigger one by making a fuss looking for the missile under their table.  He said very loudly, “I’m not looking up your skirts.”

THE SERVICE: It was really friendly and very quick.  The food was really fast even though the place was busy. When you asked the waitress questions, like, “what does Hansik mean?”  she explained very nicely.  (It’s Korean food and you pronounce it Han-shik).

WHAT I ATE: I had some beef dumplings called Gun Man Dung, it was called something like that, I can’t remember and I didn’t write it down. They were so nice, a little bit spicy, but not hot. The pastry – although it’s not really pastry I’m going to call it that too – was thick. They were a little crispy because they had been fried, but not deep-fried like chips, more as if in a big frying pan. It gave it more flavour and a little more to chew otherwise they would have been too soft and soupy. They came with soy sauce.

Although I ordered a glass noodle dish, (pictured with a figure from the missile)  I much preferred my mum’s supper, which was called Bibimbap.

It arrived in a sizzling stone pot with a large fried egg on the top and then the waiter took a knife and began mashing up the egg with the rice, putting in chilli sauce and spices and then when the egg was in bits he handed it over to my mum to eat. It might not look very good in this picture, which was taken after it was all mixed together, but it was delicious. There are so many flavours in this dish – green vegetables, rice, noodles, egg, and something brown that could have been a mushroom but I don’t think it was.  The heat from the stone pot makes the rice crispy underneath, but not in a greasy way. This is one of my favourite dishes.

RATING: 9/10.  I love it here.

Portobello Breakfast

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LOCATION: Goode & Wright Portobello, London W11

THE PLACE: There was simple oak wood paneling on the wall. The lamps were unusual: they looked like miniature Star Wars death stars floating in the air. It reminded my dad of a place called “the quality chop house”.

THE SERVICE: It was friendly but yet again:THE FOOD CAME SLOOWLY

WHAT I ATE: I had a full english breakfast without mushrooms (after all, my nemesis is mushrooms) and baked beans. It came with 1 sausage and 2 fried eggs, a tomato, some bacon and some toast . Frankly, it wasn’t the best english breakfast I’ve ever had – that was the one I had at The Grand Hotel in Eastbourne.  This was still good, it was absolutely normal, but I found the bacon too salty and the toast had too much butter. I’m not telling you that Goode & Wright is not good or right, because this place does the best burgers in the universe and my mum was raving about her halloumi salad.   It’s still worth coming here because the food is  DELICIOUS.

RATING: I would rate my meal a good 7/10 (I know, you think I always rate my meal a 7 but its true its worth a 7)

 

The Test

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LOCATION: The Talbot Inn, Ruyton XI Towns, Shropshire

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE PLACE: It was a bank holiday weekend but it wasn’t that crowded. My dad broke the curtains and because no one was looking, he hid it behind a cushion. There were violins hanging on the wall which I thought was strange.

THE SERVICE: The service was good but yet again, the food came very slowly.

WHAT I ATE: As a starter, I had a scotch egg (sorry, no picture) . It looked like a meatball from the outside. But on the inside, there was an egg surrounded by sausage meat and bread crumbs on the outside. Most scotch eggs (from my point of view) are not as delicious as the one I had here. The yolk was soft and slightly runny.

 

WHAT I ATE: I had a classic dish of fish and chips to test if the restaurant was any good because it is said that if the fish and chips are not good, then the restaurant is NO-GOOD at all. It consisted of two chunks of haddock in a beer battered crust.  I liked the way the chips came in a small metal basket, as if you were about to fry them. What I don’t understand about the test, is that to me, all fish and chips taste the same.  I’m just being honest.  But maybe I only ever eat good ones?  The chips here could have been crispier on the outside but at least they weren’t soggy. They did taste a bit like normal boiled potatoes, slightly fried perhaps.  The fish was good, I can’t say it was any better than any others that I’ve had.  And now I have a confession to make: the peas. I should have tried them, but I didn’t.  I don’t like peas.  But they did look good.

RATING: I would rate this 8/10 but the chips weren’t so good, so I will rate it 7/10.

 

 

 

Something Fishy

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LOCATION: The Mytton And Mermaid Hotel, Atcham, Shrewsbury,Shropshire

THE PLACE:  A pub next to a hotel.  There was a wedding going on; everyone was dressed up, I didn’t like the dresses much.  Meanwhile in the pub, a bunch of people were drinking beer (including my dad).  The tables were rustic, old.

THE SERVICE: The waitresses were really good but the food came slowly.  Very slowly.  Too slowly.

WHAT I ATE: I had a steamed mussel and crab tagliatelle. It was neatly served with rocket on the top. It was quite a large portion. It tasted fishy (in a nice way), it had lots of flavours and I’ve put it in my must have again list. There were lots of herbs, crayfish, the sauce was nice, but the downfall was that the mussels were a little undercooked and in the side dish of chips we found a lonely white bait among them, doing what I don’t know. I had a slight tummy ache afterwards but maybe that was from swimming in the river the day before.

For pudding I had a Passion-Fruit Creme Brulee with Coconut Ice Cream And Mango Salsa

It had square-shaped mango pieces. On the creme brulee (which was served in a small ramikin ) was a ball of coconut icecream.

It was one of the best creme brulees in the universe.

 

RATING: 7/10.

NB: September 5th 2011.  I just want to say, the stomach cramps were definitely NOT caused by the food here, because I still have them and am off to the doctor today.