Rebato's Tapas & Roller Disco in Vauxhall

http://www.rebatos.com/

Website states: Our customers tell us this could be 'the best Spanish restaurant and Tapas bar in London'

Big claim... but as far as I'm concerned in my experience of Tapas, they could well be right.  I did in fact leave the joint declaring 'that was the best tapas I'VE ever had' which may or may not have been impacted by the bottle of white I was consuming - which FYI, was just house dry white and was fantastic.

To get back to the beginning of this jaunt (week before last - am lax - totes soz) (and I say that ironically by the way, I'm not a total dick) In celebration (I should say commiseration?) of some of our colleagues leaving the company, wheels were set in motion for an evening of Tapas and rollerskating.  The usual innit... innit? No, but it SHOULD be! Was such a brilliant combo because if you're new to rollerskating you can merely open your mouth and breathe the path ahead of you clear from sheer garlic overload from the tapas.  That's a health and safety tip you can keep you lucky, lucky people.

On the walk from Vauxhall overground station to Rebato's (not to be done in the rain - not short) i was becoming more and more dubious as we passed Spanish looking restaurants that looked more and more run down and grubby with stern 'don't enter my local you surburban trespasser' looks being shot at us from those sitting out front.  with JOY we came upon Rebatos and it looked delightful if pretty gloomy. 

Stepping inside was like literally stepping into Spain, authentic Spanish feel and authentic I know better than you bar staff. I started on my first glass of their lovely white and they also presented us with some chunks of spanish tortilla (potato omelette).  This usually means dry, bland tasteless stodge but it was delicious, more akin to the sort of tartiflette flavours of a french or german dish.

(DISCLAIMER - am a tapas HATER FYI.  Everyone bangs on about it being a taste sensation when most of what i've ever had (yes INCLUDING in Spain) is dull. Im not a big fan of chorizo - it can taste like metallic blood - and i can have fried potatoes anytime i like. And THEN, if there is a dish i take a fancy to, it's gone before i've even caught a waft as they're so stupidly small)

Once all 12 of us or so had arrived we were taken to the restaurant area which was such a surprise, it had a huge conservatory feel, massive plants against white washed walls and massive skylights.  Spanish tiled floors and well laid tables, cannot praise it enough. (just to balance out this outpouring of love and passion - the loos are gross)

We poured in the orders, shouting out random dishes then "x3".  Food starting pouring out as and when it was ready which is something you need to bear in mind because as first couple of dishes arrived and were devoured we ordered more of them as we'd already forgotten half of wht we'd asked for.  To the extent that when we had all decided we were pretty much done and some more enthusiastic diners had stabbed others in the back of their hands in their eagerness for a prawn, the calamari started rolling out which we'd completely forgotten.

To summarise what i can remember of the dishes and rate them each -

Olive ciabatta bread with oils and aioli and tortilla - 9/10
thinly sliced portobello mushrooms with garlic butter - 10!
tomatoes with vinaigrette and toasted pine nuts - 8
chorizo - (am prejudiced) - 3
patatas bravas  - 7 - served with separate pots of tomato/garlic/mayonaise which is a nice touch to help yourself
calamari - 8
spinach and garlic croquettes - 7
chicken in garlic - 9
Prawns in garlic - 8
smoked suckling pig ribs - 0

I'm sure i can't even remember most of it... the ribs get a 0 because they arrived last of all once we were all stuffed and they STANK. I don't much like smoked things at the best of times but these smelt acrid and felt convinced i'd smell like one of them when i left so i didn't even try it. what a GRINCH.

Absolutely fantastic atmosphere and environment, would love to go in dead of winter for a holiday feeling uplift - 8/10 because as good as it gets, ain't ever going to be my favourite cuisine.

Roller Disco in Vauxhall - http://www.rollerdisco.com/

So from then on to the Roller Disco! Won't go into much detail but it is a BRILLIANT night out, if a little alarming.  I haven't skated since i was about 10 and it all came back! there is a slower speed rink and fast paced one.  We had a booth booked round the edge (right next to the bar) which is a must so you have a sitting down spot.

Advice to all - have a wee before you start because it's an interesting experience going in your boots.  (not IN your boots.. you get me) Dance/skate off battles broke out on the fast paced area which were awesome to watch, they guys who work there and the regulars are entertaining enough to watch in themselves.

And big bonus of it all, a brilliant outside smoking area with heaters and decking that you can go out in your skates on.  THE DOWNSIDE - to access the smoking area you must cross the PRO PIT. as i call it.  But see this as a challenge, I will force myself to exercise in order to go and destroy my lungs.  That kind of thaaaang.  What else? check your bag i and cram bare essentials in your pockets.  You won't care once you're whizzing round the floor.

Another hot tip - take some idiots from your work who are willing to attempt ridiculous stunts unbefitting to a group of desk monkeys, my stomach hurt the most of all my muscles the next day from laughing so hard.  And myself being the clumsiest person in attendance? I stacked it just the once.  When standing still.

Brilliant.

Drool will not do your laptop any good..

P.S. SELF PROMOTING BLAG - Bing's birthday present from me, based on a recipe by Lorraine Pascale (used creme fraiche instead of cream, brandy stead of sherry and added garlic to the mushroom mix because C'MON! I'm part French, don't tell me mushrooms can survive without it!!! )

Individual AMAHHHHHHH-ZING Beef Wellingtons



Birthday Bonanza Week

Prepare yourself...  In the past week I have managed:

The Minnow, Weybridge
Great Ghurkas, Weybridge
Carluccios, Walton
Snog, Westfield
Oriental Chef, Walton
Dime Bar, Underdog, Adventure Cocktails, Clapham
Firezza Pizza, Wandsworth
London Hong Kong, Heathrow

I KNOW! you're impressed right?  Not disgusted? Good.  Then let's BEGIN!

Wednesday - The Minnow Pub in Weybridge
http://www.theminnow.co.uk/

Birthday niiighhttt!! also, insanely hot day of the year night... spent all day trudging on and off the tube round London and, hold on to something, I actually FORGOT to eat all day! Just too hot!

However, this had its repercussions later as you will discover...

So I met up with a big group of friends at the pub and we sat outside, thankfully managed to secure a table.  At a Surrey, riverside pub on the one day of Summer, this is no mean feat.  But when and if you can this is a really lovely pub.  Little bit pricey and swaying slightly to the pretentious which you're hard pushed to escape round here, it is still worth it.  Even if you ALWAYS order the same thing.. Spit chicken with lemon, thyme and garlic.  Pour moi anyway.  I was planning on being more adventurous, they do some good sounding fish dishes and flatbreads but I was a bottle of wine and one gin and tonic in and creative thinking was far from urgent, stomach lining much more the thing.  It was alriiight, to my desperate, anguished stomach it was glorious, but I was peeved not to have a bit more gravy which it usually comes with and otherwise is a bit dry, but my whining made some more appear so vunderbar!

We all ordered at the bar and timings were very random, all burgers taking a very long time, but no one was feeling courteous enough to sit and let things get cool so they merely dug in and withstood the glares issuing from the 'I'll just get a quick burger' attendees.



Evil cookie masquerading candle BEFORE



Then as the evening slid ungraciously into nightfall and I overcame the pudding struggle declaring myself NOT a participant, lo and bloody behold if one doesn't appear nonetheless! Courtesy of my friend who'd gone to order me a delightfully childlike ball of ice cream alongside cookies with a candle wedged in the top! LOVE IT! loved it.  Loved it far, far too much... In my defence, before I reveal what went on to occur, I had imbibed copious amounts, I was half blinded by the glow of good food, good company, too much fag smoke and contentedness... so as I rummaged around the melted ice cream and victoriously unearthed a leftover wodge of cookie, I didn't think twice about shoving it in my gob.  And chewing right into it, an EMBARRASSINGLY long time into this chewing, it dawned on me.  It was the solitary birthday candle. in my teeth.  Possibly for ever more. did I deal with it quietly myself rather than reveal my greed fuelled stupidity to those with me? HELL no.  I spat, and dug around and spat some more and gargled.  Didn't do a fat lot, in the end i just carried on drinking.  Needless to say, I was feeling a little waxy round the edges the next morning...

(8 out of ten mostly for ambience and location - it's not their fault I only have about 5 brain cells)

Thursday, The Great Gurkhas, Weybridge

http://www.thegreatgurkhas.com/index.html

Just what I needed on on a wax induced hangover, a Nepalese Curry!

Reason for the outing, none really just an excuse for a bunch of us from work to go eat curry and get merry.  Table was booked for about 20 of us in total, and we were pretty much the only people in there which is just as well cos we're a demanding lot.  This is the only Nepalese restaurant I've been to (once before this) so any judgements I form on this cuisine are Gurkhas responsibility.  Get out clause done!

For a change, someone with awesome organisation skills had set this wheel in motion, so when we tipped up fresh out the pub, orders were placed and the staff were the keepers of a concise excel sheet neatly laying out who was eating what.  So there was no backing out of hastily placed orders earlier in the week.  And the staff made an amusing attempt at assigning faces to names purely on first impressions, stereotypes and a healthy dose of racism, and it has to be said, they got about 80% right!!

I had gone for - Sag chicken and Ghurkali Bhat rice.  Exotic you say?  Wrong you'd be...! Chicken with spinach and pilau rice actually. I played it safe having been here before, there is something unusual about Nepalese - when they say it's spicy, they're NOT messing about! I'd say everyone else in England lies bar them - so read their chilli scale like this:

1 chilli - all the cows in the world aint quenching this thirst
2 chillis - you're into self harming and have no need for a tongue anyway
3 chillis - my sister Geoff would think this pleasant.  The rest of the world would disintegrate on contact.

But safe (and sensible on a hangover) as I was, the dish was lovely, it wasn't like normal Indian sag chicken which is more like the sag has been fried, here it is very fresh and really tastes of spinach (specialist subject?) and had been cooked in a few tomatoes, it was really fresh tasting, lovely.  And the rice was just rice, next time going to step up to one of their more interesting ones.

I picked a good dish for me, loads of other people like it there because they do lean heavily on the sweet, creamy coconutty side of indian cuisine HEAVE korma esque, butter chicken (what why is this and doing here? really?) but if you hate all that, there are still good dishes on the menu.

And of course i'd stuffed my face on poppadams first (an ant arrived aboard the condiments tray which we pointed out thinking was quite funny, the waiter was aghast and brought over a new one, now i don;t know if this was one wily ant or one two faced waiter, but back came the ant and we welcomed him to the table - the rest of the restaurant is very clean, although DOES smell like a charity shop/old persons house?! alarmingly, I lost the ant whilst in my custody shortly after, trying not to think he went the same way as the candle...is NOTHING SAFE?!)

Also the decor in there is cool, it's got that feeling of being on holiday, the walls are made up to look like the outsides of bamboo shacks.

Sooooooooooooooooo - brap brap BRAP! 7/10.  I knooow it's nepalese, but it ain;t no Fetcham Tandoori, so it ain't going far up the charts.  Great for a work do though.

Friday - Carluccios, Snog, Oriental Chef - Walton, Westfield, Walton

Friday morning, awoke to full sofas.  Great Gurkhas had been followed swiftly by a couple of pubs round the corner and as such the hangover was back, but less waxy, more anty.  I'd set my alarm for 6.30am fully intending in my drunken stupor to get up early and go to the gym, GREAT IDEA! Rather surprisingly, the next morning i obediently swung out of bed, donned the lycra, introduced contact lenses to the surface of my eye balls, looked at myself and realised YOU'RE DRUNK.  Go back to bed.  So i did.

When finally getting up to a more sober state, the other bodies were up and crying out for fry ups in varying levels of desperation.  I felt the need for a clean fry up (that does make sense I promise) so off we went to carluccios for an italian's fry up!

Colazione Magnifica (indeed)
Pancetta, eggs how you like em, italian slice of bread, thinly sliced mushrooms and a grilled tomato.

you MUST request scrambled eggs, theyre the only eggs you don't need to add salt to, AMAaaahhhhhZING.  And you get a freshly squeezed juice and a choice of coffee or tea all for a tenner.  Now I know this is just chain stuff, and actually am totally anti Carluccios on the mains front, think is overpriced and Bland bland bland but this BREAKFAST. is just ace. Forgot to take my own picture, but some random flickr person has been more organised and am happy with this as an example - http://www.flickr.com/photos/luscioustemptations/4757708918/lightbox/

(and make sure you ask for tomato sauce - a fresh tomato salsa arrives PACKED with flavour)

The breakfast? 9/10.  Carluccios - c'moooonnnn it's a CHAIN. It's a nice enough branch, friendly staff, but the outside space is next to the road let's not get excited. it gets a whatever/10.

Fully fuelled Magnifica stylee, was picked up by my Birthday buddy Bing (his was on Thursday) as we'd given ourselves the day off for retail therapy.  Selfishly, I had eaten near to lunch so wasn't hungry but Bing insists he's a machine and can go without food anyway blah blah blah. We did however (i did however) stop for a quick FRO YO PICK ME UP!! love a bit of frozen yoghurt, so I got a small cup of chocolate yoghurt and some almonds from Snog.  How many times must those poor staff have to deal with, 'Fancy a snog? I thought we were just friends ahahahahahaha...ha...hmm.  And of course we did a few Pretzel place drive by tastings DANG MO!!! THEY SMELL TOO AWESOME!

And so to home, and to Oriental Chef for a takeaway while we watched the opening ceremony.
(Went back for more Szechuan, really quite taken with it...!)

Saturday, Clapham - Dime Bar, Underdog, Adventure Cocktails
http://www.thedimebar.co.uk/

Because I haven't done enough this week to mark my unimportant 26th birthday, Saturday was the ACTUAL celebration.  Joint fandango with Bingothy, so we'd reserved an area at the Dime Bar in Clapham, very quick walk from Clapham Junction station.  A booking for 20 people is free, but if your party doesn't show, they'll take £100 from your credit card, so not ideal for an ever optimistic Billy no mates.  Luckily for me our group showed! (nothing to do with the threats I had issued saying they'd be contributing if I was made to pay...) and the area we had right at the back was brilliant, loads of seating space.

Dime Bar is a new favourite of mine.  It's got a great atmosphere, bartenders who don't measure out their shots, tasty cocktails, tasty fried things with cheese (Bing's faves) a table football table, great music AND karaoke rooms downstairs! I'm pushed to think what else one could require? ah - dancing.  It isn't really the place to start throwing shapes, youve got to ship out at that point.  But it IS one of the rare places that takes alcohol distribution upon themselves rather than being concerned with managements threats about accuracy of measures, so when one of the barmen learnt there was a birthday in the house I was summoned with alarming alacrity to be the token to unlock this bout of good fortune.  6 of us were allowed to pick a shot of whatever we wanted!



Half Funghi, half Diavola - half a metre of hangover cure



Things get a bit hazy but I would recomend the following:

Cheese straws, strawberry mojitos and calamari.  In that order.



Then we hit Underdog which is a sweaty dance pit of mild disgustingness but does the job for that point when you must go hurl yourself about a bit and burn off some of the excess energy from the jagerbombs.

From there to (home, would be the sensible word) Adventure Cocktails, an old favourite of mine.  Again, flagrant disregard to measuring out shots, awesome tunes and that night flaring fireworky things all round the bar which is about the size of a large toilet cubicle in it's entirety but burn free we did in fact emerge.

Dime Bar & Adventure get a whopping 9 each, Underdog gets a 5 as it is wont to do.

Sunday - Delivery from Firezza's Pizza in Wandsworth

Worth a mention for hangover purposes, if you're not a dominoes/pizza hut/papa johns fan - they do proper stone baked pizzas to deliver... by the METRE!! Oh yes.. feast your eyes on this bad boy....!

6/10 - did the job.

Monday, London Hong Kong, Heathrow

http://www.londonhongkong.co.uk/locations/london-heathrow/

What looks like a list of place names is actually a Chinese restaurant in Heathrow.  I was invited with Bing's family here to post celebrate HIS birthday (this is the last one now, promise) and was THRILLED! Partly because I have had to listen to him extolling the virtues of this place for the past 4 years or so and he's always said i'll embarrass him, and here I am not only being invited by him but avec tout la famille!! Bonza.

Was also hugely intrigued to see what a chinese family would order at a good restaurant, as I've sat and watch Bing eat his way through a thousand pork balls to know this ain't just a brit thing...

London Hong Kong has loads of tanks in the entrance with lobsters, crabs turbot etc, promising sign of fresh food to come. We sat on a big round table with a large lazy susan - the ultimate dining set up in my opinion, easy access to all your company and all the food at once.  Shouldnt be any other way.  Except maybe on a two person table.  A lazy susan would prob just make your noodles dizzy.

I'll get the PC issue out the way now - NO prawn crackers! instead - coated nuts and pickled veg, which were delicious despite all the general mockery for my chopstick ability yes yes... chinese tea arrives immediately, had a few lessons on how to say thank you when it's poured for me and how to signal you need more - leave the lid off the pot - then orders were placed (all in chinese - I could have signed up for anything, lucky am not fussy) and food started arriving really soon (really was becoming more and more ideal)

Once the food started arriving from what was sort of a soup to begin with it all just kept coming so will try and list what we had - no idea in chinese language so rolling brit style -

Meat broth - arrived alongside lumps of braised pork on the bone which you could dip in chilli with it

chicken poached in soy then roasted

pepper steak and mushrooms

Tofu with chicken

lamb stew

Morning glory greens in garlic

pork with chilli and garlic salt

boiled rice

fish and chicken rice

There was stacks, i'm not even sure i've got all of that.  It is Bing's wish that i accept I have always eaten shite tofu and that's why I don't see the point of it on this planet.  So I tried it Chinese style (i.e. covered in meat...) and am still not converting.  This style of tofu was like a shaped mound of congealed custard.  The chicken and sauce on it was great, no need for the tofu, give me rice any day...

Anyway, apart from my refusal to budge on the tofu debacle, all the rest of it was delish.  The pepper steak was all the words in the world I hate, i'll give just the one - mouth watering.  Was seriously one of the tastiest bits of beef i've ever had. (actually this wasn't even what was ordered and when questioned the waiter simply said, no it's not, this is better - LOVE this confidence that they know best! you know you're in good hands)  The soy chicken was simiarly (t-e-n-d-e-r- and M***T) and the pork - fried - then coated in garlic, chilli and salt rub was awesome and i probably ate most of that entire dish..

The whole meal was very different to what i'd ever have ordering a chinese, but then it isn't your standard brit serving Chinese, and I loved it. and also didn't embarrass myself - even got appreciative murmurs about how did i know to lift the bowl to my mouth..?  'instinct' was my reason (greed is the truth...)

Again, this is probably an unfair summary given my lack of experience in proper Chinese restaurants, but for me, this was the best I have eaten so far and i didn't feel over full or greasy afterward.

So it's getting a whopping 9.5 (gotta leave a bit of room for perfection haven't you...? Bing - that's your fault inflicting tofu on me...)

 and oh DEAR LORD, I'm DONE! That was heavy going... think I need a break now.. OR! Tapas followed by roller disco tomorrow? yeah alright...! xx

Kwan Thai, Oxshott

From Khan's to Kwan's! Why? BECAUSE it's nearly my birthday whoooo!

http://www.kwanthaioxshott.com/default.aspx

So in honour of imminently turning the insignificant age of 26, my lovely Mum and Stepdad took me and my sister Geoff out to dinner.  (why is she called Geoff?  Because she looks like one to me, in a beautiful girl type way) It's fairly common for us to all go to the Thai in the Vic in Oxshott when there is the excuse of someone's birthday, we're all Thai obsessives and there isn't a vast plethora of good thais to hand round here really.  In Surrey I mean, have been to the Blue Elephant when it was in Fulham (i gather it's moved??) and that was ENCROYABLE! incredible even.  With the price tags to prove it - but worth it!

However.  The Kwan Thai in the Victoria in Oxshott it was on a Saturday night, 4 days premptively (might have made that word up) of my birthday, presents has been opened, new nail varnish had been applied and lo and behold the sun had actually decided to shine all day so we were all in good spirit.  I decided to forego lunch in anticipation of the meal and succeeded in not becoming unreasonably angry as a result of this.  Must be present receiving that alleviates this malady... take notes family.

For a Saturday it really wasn't very busy, we had booked ahead to bag a space in the pub area as this has a bit more atmosphere than the more obviously restaurant dedicated area of the pub towards the back.  The pub is a proper old traditional one, obvious regulars line the bar stools, ceilings you could crack your head on, carpet you could get drunk off if inhaled too closely (NEVER do this, just made myself gag a bit imagining this) but a nice chilled vibe.  The tables to the left of the pub through an alcove are all Kwan Thai dedicated.  None of the tables were set for dinner, we couldn't remember if it's always been like this but was a bit annoying as food ended up arriving before cutlery and i was ready to stab someone in the back of the hand for holding me up, you know, if i had a fork.

I must apologise now for what is about to follow - another Ode to a Prawn Cracker. 

On arrival, Le Belle Pere, herein to be referred to as Thomas.  John, Thomas. (Yes this pretty much sums up the sense of humour in my family) was despatched to the bar for wine. You can have table service if you wish but easier to just go to the bar and do it separately.  And a wee pot of prawn crackers arrived at the same time.  Half the thai style ones, half the traditional big white disc ones.  Gone in about 30 seconds so when placing our order we ordered a 2nd round.  bit of a wait and John flagged down another waiter to remind them, and lo and behold they arrived.  Were devoured. And then MIRACULOUSLY another one arrived! I can tell thee now, I was all round having a GREAT day.



Tom Kah Kai - (Poultryless and Shrooming)



Starters arrived - 3 x Tom Kah Kai's for the girls - hold the chicken, add some mushrooms, extra chilli (difficult? us?) and 1 x Tom yum style clear soup with prawns for John.

This soup is my all time favourite starter, it's my death row starter.  And if I'm being UBER critical, it was a bit too creamy (ugh hate that word) and not quite sour enough, it was still entirely delicious, but sometimes you just get the PERFECT tom kah kai, and this wasn't it, but I'd still eat it daily given the choice.  For those not sure, Tom Kah Kai is a coconut based hot and sour soup traditionally with poached chicken pieces in it.  Flavoured with fish sauce, coriander, lemongrass, lime juice, chicken stock and galangal which is an earthier tasting root in same family as ginger.



Then for mains, pictures speak for themselves that it was goooood (although was a little overkeen and forgot to take a photo till half way through) anyway, BEHOLD THE REMNANTS!



Yum - Beef Salad



Prawn Pad Thai - Delicious

Noodles with beef in a curry sauce (listed as INSANELY spicy.  it lied, not even a peep)

Sliced roasted duck with chilli and basil (LOVELY- full of flavour and had a good kick)

Scallops in a ginger and spring onion sauce (John' Thomas' fave)

Chicken Panang Curry (i didn't try much, but La Mere and Geoff said too salty, not as good as usual)

aaaaaaaaaand a steamed rice.

WHOA - almost forgot - Yum.  A salad with thinly sliced beef which is just amaze. (btw it's actually called 'Yum' not just my thoughts on this)



Not at all Spicy Curry Noodles - Don't bother


Overall was a lovely meal but the service wasn't great, even though it wasn't very busy they just seemed a bit understaffed, but I believe this comes down to management expectation as my friend is always telling me I fail abysmally at - but CHECK this:  it's a pub.  that serves grat thai food. the settings tell you from the start this isn't some fancy pants place with a mosaic ship of a bar, a small river running through it and someone who follows you to the loo to make sure you don't have to suffer the strain and stress of having to turn on a tap for yourself (i'm coming back soon Blue Elephant!!!) so all in all it is great.



Tasty as DUCK!



Got to be a bit careful about what you order as the prices can rocket pretty sharpish, some of the dishes with more expensive ingredients like king prawns were round about £18 a dish!! far too much in my opinion.  But the more standard beef and chicken dishes sit at a more rational £7-8 which for the quality of the meat used etc is more than reasonable.

Points out of ten? drum roll please..... 8!  it's not INSANELY perfect, but it is damn tasty, and i like the relaxed vibe of the pub - on certain occasions.

aghhhhh uploading these pictures has made me crave thai again.  i just KWAN get enough of it... OOOHHhhhhhhhhh... AWFUL. 

get it from my dad, sorry!

Benito's Hat & Khan's of Walton

aaaaand another rather peculiar culinary mix for the day.  Mexican then Indian.  And no reason why not... (except I'm SUPPOSED to be steering away from stodge and not spending money etc etc) SHUT UP conscience, I'm eating here.

Another day another intrepid exploration around London carrying shizen loads of bags and talking a lot at people. Hence forthwith and therefore one obviously works up an appetite... and we stumbled upon Benito's Hat at the hour one associates with lunch and the infringing feeling that I'm about to get VERY angry which usually means - Eat ASAP before you kick a puppy in the face. So I did (eat, not boot an innocent canine)  Or rather, a little bit later I did.  When we arrived it was actually - Sorry am on Goodge Street in London by the by - 11:45, an hour not that appropriate at all for lunch in actual fact, so we ordered some drinks and got on with some work and the staff were very nice about us doing this in what is essentially a fast food establishment.  An hour later, without showing any of my internal turmoil fuelled by hunger, we went to get the grub in only to find the queue was now going out the front door and down the street.  A good sign I reckon.  It's your standard fast food mexican operation, manouevre yourself down the procession line piling on the different ingredients.

I went with: Salad Bowl - cilantro rice, black beans, lettuce, grilled chicken, salsa, fresh chillies, cheese & sour cream. Then they chucked on a handful of tortilla chips for good measure.

Et Voila!

Now, I was starving, so it tasted good at the time, but you know those meals you have where you all say how nice it was and feel pleased with yourself and then somone mentions it about an hour or so later and you find yourself suddenly withholding an unattractive involuntary gagging face? it was one of them.  The black beans were weirdly aniseedy, the cheese tasted of nothing, if i was pushing it, potentially hint of polystyrene, and the grilled chicken tasted like it had been sat around a bit.  But it was all FINE. but no one wants fine. ahhhh hindsight.

Also, when asked if I was eating in and i declared confirmation of my whereabouts within, a plastic bowl was summoned with an air of unnecessary pride as it turned out to be a dog bowl.  Which made me feel a bit like a dog, and it was all pretty cold.

Buuuut thennnn let's not forget it's cheap, it's fast food and what was i expecting? (*CHIPOTLE*) Chipotle is a lot tastier. Ain't going to hold back.  But then Benito's Hat do have a more chilled out dining area that makes you feel you can try and loiter a bit which you can't in Chipotle, also BH do a happy hour on cocktails between 5 and 7 which is a nice touch and turns BH into more of an evening option whereas chipotle remains a fast food chain. Swings and R.

I did like the inclusion of things on the menu I could go Whaaaaa....? to, like Horchata.  which I only know from the Vampire Weekend song "I remember drinking Horchata... you look psychedelic with your nice balaclava...?" (Leave it - I suffer from a serious case of the Mondegreens - Google it) So i looked it up and turns out to be a beverage comprising of: Ground almonds, vanilla extract, white rice extract (?!) and ice and cinammon bark.  All very intriguing and entirely NOT the sort of thing to throw down your neck in an experimental fashion in the middle of a work day.  But if anyone else has/does brave, do share.

Think i should introduce a vague ratings system at this point.  So, for it's position in the cheap and cheerful fast food stakes, (a rating is only relevent in relation to the places niche) I would give Benito's a 6 out of 10.  I enjoyed the atmosphere and how popular it seemed to be, I probably should have gone whole hog with pulled pork (dad pun alert) but I was stupidly still trying to err on the healthy side.

(Insert fast paced walking/talking/carrying montage around London, a lot of getting on the wrong tubes, and re tracing steps alongside comedy soundtrack)

Et voila, ce soir, I went out for dinner with my friend Camilla as a treat for sorting out her CV, except I didn't.  So was just because we like going out for dinner. Whipped out the old Taste Card options on the iPhone, Khan's of Walton it is (New Zealand Avenue, Walton on Thames).  Khan's hasn't been in residence for a hugely long time and this was potentially my 4th visit.  I am a massive raving curry snob.  In my opinion (and you cocky traveller types can hush - I'm talking exclusively English Curry House Experience aaaiiiighhhhttt..???) I have tasted the best, and i'm hard pushed to agree with anywhere else being worth the effort at all.  The best is the Fetcham Tandoori.  In a place called Fetcham.  Which I doubt anyone has heard of, but it is the only reason to visit this place.  Anyway, am sure plenty of excursions to that particular curry house will get documented here at some point so back to Khan's.  After trying the dismal array of curry houses round these parts - full of standard samey curry dishes, bad quality meat and everything swimming in grease, Khan's is a blessing.  It positions itself as a 'healthy' curry house.  Love to buy into this, but realisitically, it's still a curry, not a salad.  but it has FLAVOUR. all the dishes taste different and you can really taste the various ingredients (CLAUSE - not AS much as in Fetcham!)

The Pilau rice is particularly good, has been cooked in stock and has been flavoured with various cardamon pods, cinnamon, cloves etc.  Is great.  Tonight we kept it simple, 4 poppadums (3 pa-pa & chat 1 pa-PO!) then a chicken rogan, chicken tikka and 2 x pilau.  Simple but effective. And you'll never beliiiiieeeeeve how much the bill came to - only £14 BLOODY POUNDS!!! I end up spending more somehow when I go to buy myself a can of tomato soup.  Tikka was tasty, rogan was...rocking.. Pilau was..pleasant.  Sorry, felt a call to action for some alliteration there. 

and being women, totally won over by arrival of FOUR chocolates on the bill plate. Is it called a bill plate? I've just assigned it that grand title.  Or could be the Dosh Dish. The Payment Platter.  The Receipt Receptacle.  I digress quite spectacularly.  There was a nervous moment when the waiter earnestly told us about how we would go about ordering a home delivery online and he seemed particularly nervous about our grasp on this concept (both blonde, but ordering delivery - we can manage) and for a worrying moment we thought he may not break eye contact EVER and maybe we'd slipped into a separate time dimension, but the moment passed and we all parted on smiling terms.

Excellent service, fresh, tasty 'healthy' food (to add some weight to this claim actually - they have options of low calorie wine, do not use Ghee - replaced with olive oil, and use no additives or flavourings) average, but very clean surroundings, not too Modern (traditional curry house decor only please) so Khan's gets a 7.5 out of 10.

p.s. Loos fine and clean, but loo seat was UP in the only women's toilet? Why is this? This happens at work sometimes too, is it the calling card of the Hoverer, who wants to increase their aim zone?  Answers on a postcard.  or a piece of loo paper.  Unused. thanks

Dim T & Zizzi's & Oriental Chef.. good combo, trust me

Chinese, Italian, Chinese has been the combo of cuisines for the tail end of the week.  Rice being a bit of a theme for a while now.

So, started off Wednesday night in Dim T on Charlotte Street near to Goodge Street Tube station.  Totally arbitrary decision made by an incredibly tired and unenthusiastic sister and myself on the basis that I ALWAYS fancy noodles (and always opt for rice).

It's modern inside and bigger than you might think, there are regular tables available but we were sat facing the service area next to each other which I thought was really odd, but my sister pointed out what a blessing this would be if you were on a date and had FOOLISHLY ordered noodles or some kind of ramen soup so they wouldn't be looking at you.  Just, potentially getting flicked in the face by an errant noodle every now or then or elbowed as you master your chopsticks. anyyyywaay, getting off the point.  We went in under pretext of, just get a quick bowl of noodles.  And you know prawn crackers (Let's get some prawn crackers and last them to the main, will be nice with the noodles - oh yeah definitely...)  Then the sister points out - chilli edamame beans which she rates from having before. on the list.  I go for Japanese fried rice bowl - a concoction of pak choi, chicken, spinach leaves, red onion, peppers and i can't remember what else?a teriyaki style sauce.  and coriander.  And my sister goes for Singapore Fried Noodles - adhering more successfully to the original plan.  SO. the prawn crackers arrive + sweet chilli dipping sauce (never tire of this). devour the bowl in about 5 minutes.

And then, we wait.

Amuse ourselves staring at the girl behind the service pass who is meant to be preparing all the dim sum and steaming things and salting things and... well it was lost on us actually what she was doing, she definitely wasn't paying much attention to us. We gaze hopefully at a few bowls of likely looking edamame beans only to see them carted off to other far reaches of the restaurant.  Eventually who appears to be the manager comes over and asks if we've had our beans yet.  Head shakes in unison. Right, she says in a decisive, action plan style way making us feel assured edamame HOOOYY.  Not too much later, they arrive.  And they're really good.  But again, devoured in minutes - pure reflection of our will power, not a measly portion.

and then... we wait.

This time we wait a reeeaally long time but luckily we are kept entertained with the challenge of trying to get drink top ups.  We're sitting practically on the service bar and feel like leaflet pushers who the staff are tactfully trying to avoid eye contact with, but eventually Make Things Happen woman comes back with HURRAH! a complimentary bowl of prawn crackers to apologise for the wait! am immediately placated (it's not hard).  But we didn't even have to put in a chase up for her to notice so well done MTH woman. The rest of them, rubbish.  But she made up for it.

So fairly soon after (it must have been, we hadn't managed to finish 2nd bowl of crackers) our mains arrive.  See pics below.  The food was nice and fresh, well cooked, but nothing ground breaking, but then, neither was our order particularly adventurous.  And, having had PLENTY of time to examine the food coming out the pass, everything did look beautifully presented, and pricing was fair - about £8 for a rice/noodle bowl.

I didn't visit the loos, but my sister assures me they were very nice.  Seems to me, that was potentially her perk of the evening.  that and the fortune cookies - HOW london, they weren't sealed so you could pull the fortune out without having to eat it if you're size zero inclined, we're not however, and they were SO nice. Coconut-y.  Oh no, wait, that wasn't the perk - this sign in Googe St was.

http://www.dimt.co.uk/

So then, THURSDAY night after a long day in Covent Garden standing and presenting ALL day... works up quite a hunger..?  OK, no point justifying it, went out to dinner again. There was a group of about 10 of us looking for something cheap and cheerful so after running around aimlessly in the rain for about 10 minutes we all followed the one who ran in the most decisive path into a large Zizzi's on Bow Street.  We had to sit and wait a while so they could make space for us, fair enough, we didn't book, but it gave us time enough to remember what a miserable feeling damp denim is so we were all a little quieter than our earlier euphoric WE'RE DONE FOR THE DAY GET ME A GLASS OF WINE mode and when we were eventually led downstairs where it was relatively empty, i think we all thought as one, do we have the energy to fill this room with our own atmosphere? As we were away from the main pizza making hub etc.  It swiftly became apparent it was a wise move to separate us from the general public.  The sweet relief of wine flowed rather faster than we anticipated and voice levels raised in steady parallel with this.  Olives and bread were summoned, the waitress moved off - but not far off enough before the panic set in - what type of bread? white bread? I DONT WANT PLAIN WHITE bread! it's not going to be a few slices of kingsmill chill out.. I want rustic ITALIAN bread... AHEM! The waitress has reappeared. Would you like some rustic italian bread? 10 sheepish nods, thank you yes please. Olives with chilli actually had a kick to them, usually a blatant LIE when menus say this, but they were goooood.  By the time we ordered our mains, we were a few bottles down and I held on to my last thread of rational thought by realising that the bread and olives had rendered an entire pizza unnecessary and i ordered their 'skinny' offering, half a Rustica pizza plus side salad.  Had the primavera one, a mix of roasted veg and goats cheese.  Their pizzas have improved loads, they've completely changed their menu and style of cooking, true i haven't been in quite a while, but when I last did, every pizza was chicken and spinach and barrel loads of rosemary on everything including your ice cream.  Anyway, my pizza was rosemary free, delicious and more than enough (or at least it is when you have a bite of the Piccante pizza on your left and the calzone on your right - i thank yooowww) Staff were friendly and kept all rolling of eyes behind our backs if that was the case.  Would never have gone into Zizzi of my own accord now, haven't ever liked it in the past but the new menu has totally won me over, will definitely be going back and BONUUUUSSS they take taste card.

And last but not least, Saturday night takeaway back in trusty Walton on Thames and it was courtesy of Oriental Chef on the High Street.  This takeaway is what converted me back to liking Chinese a couple of years back when I moved here, it has genuine flavour, not a sickly gloop of something bright that keeps your heart racing till 4 in the morning and you thinking unreasonable but at the time totally believable thoughts about probably being fired the next day at work for wearing uncoordinated socks that Thursday back in January, and last night it did not disappoint.  We went for the infamous 3a, spare ribs in a salt and chilli rub - SO GOOD!!! And i had spicy szechuan chicken which i haven't had there before and I'm not sure why but I had it in my head that Szechuan would be a dark sauce? so when I opened it up to find it more the colouring of your standard ginger and spring onion sauce, my heart sank thinking it would be bland - but i was pleasantly surprised, it was really tasty and again, no feeble chilli, didn't need to add any extra.  It's not cordon bleu, but I think it always helps to get a good account of local takeaways - AND, an important fact about Oriental Chef, it has the PROPER prawn crackers (errrr becoming aware I talk A LOT about PC's, I promise to have a break) but they do the thin ones which have clearly been fried fresh, not the big white thick all the same circular shaped disc ones... anyone still with me on that..?? they're quite difficult to find these days, but basically taste like the ones you can buy from a chinese supermarket and cook yourself at home - bonus.

Off round said sister's flat tonight to be cooked for - Spag Bol.  my death row meal, can't wait!

p.s - not being executed tomorrow, just what I would order if i had a choice and theoretically was about to be - ya geeeett me...?

Four Seasons, Queensway, London

Why am I here, what am I doing, who am I... I feel an urgent pressure to explain myself to...no one. The joys of anonymity. NO! Otherwise none of it will make any sense, not that it is likely to anyway as I'll warn you now my train of thought can be sporadic at the best of times. I'm not a food critic, or an expert chef or anything, but I am a food addict.  And to my mind that qualifies me to share some thoughts on the subject.  I spend 70% of my time feeling guilty about the amount of money I spend on food and drink and the calories I have therefore ingested, but I might as well get some value out of that and share my thoughts on these places.  Occasionally, I do get to go dine at a lovely expensive restaurant but do not get the wrong idea.  I could be visiting my local Wagamama's and I'm still going to write what I thought of the service, what I ate (what I will never eat again...) because we all visit these places and it's good to have warning in case one happens to have a waiter with comedy value, or another never cleans out their loos (Toilets could end featuring with high prominence, especially in nicer restaurants - am easily won over by a novel soap dispenser or waterfall style sinks.  Am the sort of person that pays more for fancy packaging - a sucker)


AND sooo, to the matter in hand.  Today's dining event was a new one on me.  Four Seasons, a Chinese Restaurant in Queensway, London.  Just off Bayswater Rd.  And am really rather chuffed about this as was just on a work day in town with colleagues when they announced we had a reservation for Chinese for lunch.  I like Chinese but it's more a guilty pleasure than a cuisine I think showcases finesse and all the rest.  In my mind, Thai is the King, Indian the Queen, and Chinese comes a long way down the line married into the family by a cousin once removed etc.  Anyway, I still love it don't get me wrong but it has exactly the same effect on me as would a MacDonald's, sugar RUSH, sugar CRASH, sugar cravings... 


However, I take into full account I have only experienced the very english side of Chinese food, so I was chuffed today to be taken along to some random, tiny fronted restaurant, with the reassuring dead ducks and pig bits hanging in the windows that made me feel I was about to partake in something very authentic.  And to add to this, was party to a large group of Japanese who took full charge of ordering which I was even more pleased about, as if left in control myself I know I would err, (er? are there 2 R's? I'm not sure) on the side of caution.  SO, they ordered 2 soups to start - Hot and Sour or Crab and Sweetcorn.  Never had either before, the Hot and Sour looked good but sadly I missed out.  The Crab and Sweetcorn was pleasant, but not my cup of tea.  Very gloopy, definite texture over taste issues for me.  Then next course, huge mounds of roast duck.  Tasted AMAZING, left an impressive trail of mess from lazy susan, to my plate, across my lap and down my front, but lovely.  Skin not crisp though and extremely fatty, which I have to admit I still had some, because some fat just tastes GOOD dammit. With this, we had fried rice, greens in garlic sauce (WHOA I'm part French but thank god am staying in tonight..) and some tofu in hot and sour sauce.  It was a good simple selection, the greens were awesome, the tofu - c'mon, what in hell is the bloody point of tofu?! leave it out - the sauce was nice, the rice was ace, until I found something unrecognisable in there, but am not of faint heart and convinced myself it was related to a prawn.  


Service was brusque, but the good kind.  correcting our order to what they saw to be more practical (which I LOVE because they should know best, they run the joint, tell us how to do it) but never leaving us untended to and repeatedly topping up our chinese tea leaves with water.  Now I have to fess up and admit I can't tell you whether this place was good value for money because I didn't see the bill, but a glance at the menu and judging how much we ordered between 8, I would cover the issue with the blanket statement - More than reasonable - give or take a bit of unidentifiable prawn relative.  The squeamish - my sister in particular - could not be handling this, i will not be taking her anytime soon.


So that was today's culinary adventure, in summary - Tasty.  Not my recommendation for a date location, as setting and furniture all very basic and felt a bit temporary.  Also (am about to reveal the pleb in me) It might be authentic, but I did miss the prawn crackers... felt too English to kick up a stink about that.


P.s - Loos were nothing to write home about but not gross - bonus!