Where’s the good coffee? LJ’s Coffee House

Patrick Coffee, UK, Where's the good coffee?

This one has been on my list for a while, and so the last time I was hanging around Covent Garden on a Sunday, decided to head out this way. As tempted as I was to drop into a number of other coffee stores, I thought it was about time I tried a different one. As you can tell from the picture below, the sun was shining strong the day I went in, and it surprised me that no one was sitting on the small table outside although most of the lounge and tables were pretty busy.

I’m guessing they offer free wi-fi based on the number of laptops out as well.

The important part? I was slightly worried when I saw the mammoth sized cups along the wall. Fortunately they only offer the flat white in the smaller cup. I want my coffee with a dash of milk, not coffee-flavoured milk, thank you very much. Next to the coffee counter sat a fridge, reminding me of the coffee chains offering grab and go sandwiches or a smaller handful of heat them up on the spot. I guess it’s nice to have options for a hot lunch although I think it’s better to make them fresh.

The verdict? Pretty good. They use Union roasted beans so that’s a pretty good start. There wasn’t too much milk and it was heated to the right sort of temperature. I think I paid £2.30 for this. A decent option although it has some very strong competition in its neighbourhood.

Name: L.J. Coffee House
Found at: 3 Winnett Street, W1D 6JY, London, UK
Website: http://www.ljcoffeehouse.org.uk/

Bowaters at The Compleat Angler

Patrick British, Restaurants, UK

Although I had many breakfasts staying at the Compleat Angler in Marlow, I never ate their for dinner. When I returned to Marlow, this was our destination of choice. Bowaters has two different rooms, one closer to the weir/lock where you have a continuous flow of water, and the other, slightly open-aired dining room overlooking the river to the church. With the great warm and sunny weather we enjoyed the open-aired dining room (pictured below).

Their menus is best described as modern European, the modern being the take of some slightly interesting ingredients and cooking techniques. They obviously haven’t made it past the novelty of foam just yet. Everything was perfectly executed as well, including a constant top up of four types of bread (sesame, brown, white and tomato) throughout the evening.

For starters I debated getting the goats cheese panna cotta and beetroot salad though opted out after hearing about how rich it might end up with. Someone else decided to order it (shown below) so at least I got to see how well presented it was.

Instead I opted for the clear chicken soup that arrived in a tiny serving bowl yet packed full of flavour. This was, hands down, one of the best bowls of chicken soup I’d had for some time. Served with leeks and potatoes, it was actually a pretty filling starter at that.

Next up were the mains. Picture below is the pancetta wrapped turbot, watercress salad and the dastardly foam. Reportedly well cooked and tasty.

I ordered the pork done two ways (belly and medallion) and although the belly could have been softer, was definitely well seasoned and tasty. On top sits an apple mixture and then served with a potato stack on the right. Mmm…

Who were we to resist dessert as well? Half the table when with the molten chocolate dessert served with ice cream and beautifully presented with cocoa and chocolate drops.

The other side of the table decided for the tequila burnt cream (creme brulee) accompanied with ginger shortbread. Although wonderfully executed, the tequila flavour wasn’t strong enough to shine through the crisp sugary topping and the shortbread only had the slightest of ginger flavours. I still definitely enjoyed this dessert.

We didn’t seem to have a dedicated attendant throughout dinner, and as a result we seemed to have mixed service. If it was the sommelier, he didn’t do anything to help us pick the wine and we found ourselves pouring for ourselves on empty glasses only to find the sommelier returning to our freshly poured glasses. One waiter and waitress did provide exceptional service with friendly attitudes and the best kind of service – the sort you tend not to notice throughout the evening.

Name: Bowaters at the Compleat Angler
Found at: Macdonald Compleat Angler, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 1RG GB
Website: http://www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk/compleatangler/foodanddrink/index.htm#bowaters

Tapas at Barrica

Patrick Restaurants, Tapas, UK

Goodge Street is already home to the another popular tapas bar that I haven’t even been to, although I’m always happy to go with suggestions my good Italian foodie friend, Luca, recommends so Barrica’s Tapas Bar was go. This is the sort of place worth booking ahead for, and even the day ahead, all we could get one of their high tables out front instead of the, more lounge-like seating arrangements out back.

Like all charcuteries, there’s Iberican ham hanging awaiting slicing and dicing of serving and quite a few different Spanish cervezas (beer!) including a really dark flavoured one that I enjoyed drinking.

Grilled picante chorizo – deliciously firm and slightly spicy

There’s plenty to choose from on the menu although they stick to the classic fair. I can assure you that they were done very well and the between the two of us, six or seven different tapas was plenty of finish off.

Classic patatas bravas – seemingly made with Maris Piper potatoes providing a lovely crisp outside to contrast the tomato and mayonnaise topping.

Unfortunately we had to run to see a movie, so we couldn’t stay for dessert and surprised our waitress for the evening who provided entertaining and highly enthused service throughout the meal.

My favourite of the evening – stuffed chillies

When we booked at the last moment, they mentioned that we’d be eating at the bar, although what they really meant by that was eating at high tables that resembled a bar (they were actually separate tables). This might be uncomfortable for some people but still had plenty of privacy.

A couple of beers and six or seven tapas plates between the two of us including service ended up at about £50.

Name: Barrica Tapas Bar
Found at: 62 Goodge Street London W1T 4NE
Website: http://www.barrica.co.uk/

Bayswater’s Banana Tree Canteen

Patrick Asian, Restaurants, UK

The Banana Tree Canteen is one of those micro-chains providing pan-asian cuisine in a communal dining space made popular (or acceptable) by Wagamamas. There’s a few of them around town though the first one I’ve eaten at is the one located at Bayswater, just slightly down from the famously cheap Khan’s.

Out of the starters, we tried the Chicken Satay and the Chinese pork ribs. I’d definitely order the satay again, with juicy and slightly spiced chunks of chicken with enough char to give it some interesting contrast. I’m glad the accompanying sauce also had just the right level of chilli. On the other hand, I wish I could forget the ribs. The combination between an awfully strong pork flavour indicative of old meat and simply fried didn’t do anything to add flavour and made only worse drenched in a sickly sweet sauce.

Fortunately the main dish made up much more for it with a grilled pork dish served with a side salad and a chilli dipping sauce. You might think all that clear stuff on the plate is the oil, and maybe some of it is, but the rest was a light glaze made of honey that definitely worked well with the natural sweetness of the pork.

Dessert was up next and my dining partner couldn’t resist the black rice with coconut ice cream (pictured above). I can’t resist ordering the classic pandan pancake and the waitress was good enough to swap the normal ice cream for coconut ice cream as well.

Our waitress provided some very friendly service throughout the night, but if it’s like any other micro-chain will be variable depending on who’s working and their level of service. Three course dinner for 2 including a couple of soft drinks and tip: £47.80.

Name: Banana Tree Canteen(in Bayswater)
Found at: 21-23 Westbourne Grove, London W2 4UA
Website:

A Golden Day in London

Patrick Asian, Restaurants, UK

There seems to be an explosion of Northern Chinese cuisine popping up all over London. One of the newest replaces Shaftsbury Avenue’s Chinese Experience with a new one called Golden Day. Like many of the new northern Chinese restaurants, their menu is a comprehensive photographic journey through the feasts on offer. It’s a good thing too because many of them are unusual sounding and strange dishes. Like any good restaurant, based on the sampling of dishes that we ordered, they also did a great job keeping them as close to the pictures.

The picture above contains Chicken with Chillis and Wood ear mushrooms. Unlike one of my most favourite Northern Chinese dish, the chicken with sichuan peppers, this one was cooked in a spicy, saucy broth, slowly reducing over the a live flame at the table. The wood ear mushrooms, one of the least spicy dishes on the menu provided a nice cool complement to the meal.

The other star of the meal was the Aubergine dish. Surrounded by bok choi, this well presented dish covered a salty, slightly spiced aubergine that was unimaginably delicious. We weren’t even rushed out of the restaurant like many other Chinese restaurants and tea promptly filled at regular intervals.

Name: Golden Day
Found at: 118-120 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 5EP
Website: (none found)

Where’s the good coffee? The Table Cafe

Patrick Aussie, Brunch, Coffee, Restaurants, UK, Where's the good coffee?

Although I didn’t come here specifically for the coffee, I do have to rate it fairly highly for using Monmouth beans and for well trained baristas who know how to make a mean flat white. I first tried this place out for breakfast one morning, noting that it was open from 7:30am for breakfast during the week (convenient since my client is almost opposite the building). A wonderful place to keep in mind is that it’s also open on weekends from 8:30am for brunch!

Timeout listed this as a great cheap eat and I’d definitely have to second that motion for providing fantastic food in a buzzing atmosphere. Their interior is designed for a number of communal benches and an order-at-the-front style although the modern dining and large glass walls help keep the place feeling modern and comfortable. I liked the fact that it seemed like a trust based system – a customer buys a bowl of porridge and they go over to a separate place to help themselves to the porridge and appropriate toppings. Very inviting indeed.

Thinking I was taking my team out for breakfast one morning, I thought I’d test it out that day. Considering that, at the time of this writing, their eggs benedict (for 2!) was only £6.85, I really started asking myself what was wrong with that.

As you can see above, not very much, although this variant was done with bacon more so than ham (something I definitely prefer anyway). The toasted muffin was light and crisp and eggs perfectly poached with plenty of runny yolk. Fantastic value and something that, I’m happy to report, several of my team members also enjoyed when we returned here the following week. They also do a mean lunch for pretty decent value but it’s bustling all the time so I’d recommend going early.

Name: The Table Cafe
Found at: 83 Southwark Street, London, SE1 0HX
Website: http://www.thetablecafe.com/
Twitter: @thetablecafe

This first visit was the 8 April, 2010

American Diner Breakfasts in London

Patrick American, Brunch, Restaurants, UK

Sunday is a great time to do brunch although I had a challenge on my hand when the friends I met said, let’s do it at 10:30am. If it were any city in Australia, this wouldn’t be a problem but for some reason London tends to be rather sleepy on a Sunday morning. In fact, I spoke to someone who’d yet to see any Sunday mornings for the last two months. In an endeavour to go down my list of places-for-brunch, I found that Automat opened early enough (according to their website, 10am).

I arrived slightly before 10:30am, and besides one other small table, the whole place was pretty empty. Having booked ahead, they mentioned there would be a two hour turn around although I’m assuming this was a standard warning since it wasn’t particularly busy when we left, nor did we feel rushed.

Their interior is loosely split into three areas, the front reception area made up of small cafe-style tables, a middle section filled with leather bound booth style seating (which we sat in) and a sky-light lit dining area made up of more cafe-style tables. As much as an American diner as it felt, it certainly oozed a lot more charm than one you’d expect to enter if you were in the States. It was particularly fitting considering the area it sat in.

Their brunch menu did all the classic American diner breakfasts (waffles, pancakes, french toast) and merged in with more of their interesting American style lunch foods including Mac and Cheese, Smoked Brisket Rolls and “Po Boy” Sandwiches. I decided to go with the Canadian stack, or rather a made up version by ordering the Buttermilk Pancakes with maple syrup and blueberries (£10) with a side of bacon (£4)

Their pancake stack contained three fluffy and very filling pancakes and their bacon was cooked perfectly crisp but still had plenty of flavour. Plenty of maple syrup decorated the plate without making it excessively sickly sweet. The coffee (latte) was reasonable though nothing to call home about (too milky) although bonus points for the freshly squeezed orange juice (you get what you pay for (I think it was £4).

Service was polite although not particularly attentive when we finally wanted the bill at the end. I’d return for a breakfast although with their menu, I’d be more interested in sampling something different on their lunch or dinner menu.

Name: Automat
Found at: 33 Dover Street, London W1S 4NF
Website: http://www.automat-london.com/

This visit was on Sunday 11 April

Commercial Bakery

Patrick Aussie, Coffee, Melbourne

Located just in front of Gil’s Diner (or maybe even a part of it) is Melbourne’s Commercial Bakery. Wonderful European pastries line the small window front, enticing you to enter. Other breads and loaves surround the walls and you’re confronted by the baristas operating the impressive two, three-lever espresso machines. You don’t see commercial places operating these machines very often although I can attest to the wonderful brew they extract out of the coffee machines.

This was also one of the few places that seemed to sell almond croissants and this one was definitely decadent, not only filled with the typical almond filling, but also with its interiors seemingly glazed with an almond syrup of sorts. There’s a small counter bar overlooking the window where you might enjoy your coffee, or a smaller set of tables out back where you can enjoy a much richer breakfast.

An awesome place to have breakfast on the run, or a more leisurely paced one inside in the warmth of the baking ovens.

Name: Commercial Bakery
Found at: 360 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, 3000, Australia
Website: None found

Drinking at the Gin Palace

Patrick Aussie, Bar, Melbourne

I ended up here twice during my week in Melbourne, once for a pre-dinner drink and the other time to catch up with a good friend. You wouldn’t really know about this place unless you were looking for it, or unless a person introduced you to it. After all, it’s down a little side street and its doorway is still hidden from the street view. You might happen to catch its bright doorway if you look at the right time as you walk by.

Inside, the interior is made up of many different seating areas, all affording plenty of privacy from each other. Most of them were comfy old leather chairs, well worn or most likely bought like that. Either way, I liked the way that it fit well with the old fashioned, parlour style atmosphere. Drinks and food are table service, although it was pretty slow on both nights to the point where we went up to the bar to ask for our next round.

They had a cocktail menu although the bartenders were rightfully pretty aware of lots of different drinks and we ended up asking for something that had sloe gin and were recommended a Charlie Chaplin drink that went down a treat. Drinks start at around AU$16 from what I remember though worth every drop.

Name: Gin Palace
Found at: 10 Russell Place, Melbourne Victoria 3000, Australia
Website: http://ginpalace.com.au/

Saf Restaurant

Patrick Restaurants, UK, Vegetarian

I’ve heard great things about Saf and based on our dining experience there on Tuesday, lives up to its reputation. I know that they recently opened another branch elsewhere in London although hoping this won’t reduce the attention to detail on what they offer. Saf does vegetarian and raw food although doesn’t do anything near bland or ordinary flavours.

I sat at the bar with a friend whilst waiting for the rest of our companions to join us for dinner. The drinks menu includes a whole range of interesting cocktail recipes, made with their home made flavour infusions all focused on in season ingredients and focused on organic foods. The drinks were not only strong but just like the food, packed full of flavour. Their wine menu is interesting and I’m happy to report many a vegan or vegetarian person doesn’t need to think twice about drinking any of them.

The weather was still fairly nice from the glorious sunny weekend and so we sat outside with a number of other diners in their courtyard. Whilst deciding on what to have, we started with some chilli edamame (pictured below) and some cooked mushrooms, both amazingly packed with flavour. I’m not normally a fan of edamame (who needs more salt in their diet!) but these chilli coated ones had enough punch to give you a slight tingle without an overpowering fire taking away from the bean. Definitely very more-ish.

We all decided on having an appetiser and all the vegetarians at the table exclaimed at how much choice there was – explaining that in other restaurants, there’s normally one or two things to choose from. Of course it wasn’t surprising how long it took for us to decide on what to have. I ended up with their Saf Tacos (Chipotle, Guacamole, Tomato & Pineapples Salsas) for £8.25. Their tacos were a trio, filled with a various of differently flavoured salsas and packed plenty of flavour. I suspect the chipotle actually went into the tacos shells, giving it that slightly heated smokey flavour.

I think four of us picked the Aromatic Thai curry (aubergine, snake beans, okra and brown rice) for £13.75. The curry arrived separately from the rice and it seemed much more like a soup than a curry with plenty of liquid floating around. We weren’t sure if this was a normal state because they didn’t even bring us a spoon until towards the end of our meal. Nevertheless, the curry was packed full of flavour and even the “fishing” for vegetables with our fork seemed to be highly entertaining in a bowl that constantly threatened to spill over its lower edge.

Unfortunately I think we hit Saf in between seasons, or just on a bad night because when it came to dessert, out of the six items on offer, we could only really choose from two of them. Everyone else when for the chocolate tart, where I went for the lighter sorbets (scoop of mango and another of passionfruit). I was surprised at how large the scoops were when the arrived and helped to finish off a wonderful meal.

At the end of the meal, we all commented on how full we felt from something you wouldn’t expect to keep you full and also a round of appreciations went around for the complex flavour profiles. Eating at Saf you will end up paying just as much as any other meal, but I do think you’ll feel better for it.

Name: Saf Restaurant & Bar
Found at: 152-154 Curtain Road – Shoreditch London EC2A 3AT
Website: http://www.safrestaurant.co.uk/
Twitter: @safrestaurant