When I was passing by Warren Street last weekend, a group of people were demonstrating against the only Scientology branch I’ve actually seen on a high street. I dropped into a store and overheard two people talking, one a shopkeeper, the other a customer. I loved the response:
Customer: “What is scientology?”
Shopkeeper: “You don’t know? It’s that cult that Tom Cruise is part of”
Settling back into London after four months in Calgary, and what seemed like shortly before that, four months in India, I’ve just enjoyed staying in London and calling my apartment my home. Life in London has been great, and other than the overly long commute I’m doing for my current client, it’s been enjoyably busy. Yesterday I caught up with Mike and his wife Vanessa for a catch up over dim sum at one of their favourites, Golden Dragon. I love catching up with these guys as they’re always full of excitement and always up to exciting things.
Last week I went to Jaimee’s birthday event, always a great time and lots of fun people to chat with. This year she had it at The Loft, recently voted in as Time Out’s best bar, very evident from the body-to-body wall of people I had to almost push through to get to her celebration area. Fortunately she had persuaded them to give her some space as they don’t normally take bookings and reserve space for parties (yay Jaimee!). It was also a great time to catch up with a number of people I used to see every now and again and I realised who I hadn’t seen since last year’s birthday party.
Before that, I said farewell to two people, Zac, a former work colleague who’s heading back to Australia for a three month break. The other, Claire, my flat mate who is heading back to York to study law. I know that I’ll see Zac when he gets back, but it will certainly be sad to see Claire leave. I think she’ll have a great time getting back to where she is surrounded by lots of her friends from way back and enjoy the challenge (and time off between classes!) of going back to school.
I went to some farewell drinks of a former colleague, Zac, who’s heading back to Australia for a three month break
I caught up with a friend for lunch here last Sunday, with a combination of dim sum and their famed xiao long bao. For those unaccustomed to the latter dish, imagine a soft steamed dumpling pinched together barely enclosing a meat filling buoyed in a mouthful of soup. Eating it straight from the steaming basket invites a burning mouth if you’re not careful. The customary way of eating it, is to place a dumpling on the soup spoon, pinching a tiny hole in the dumpling before seasoning with either the dipping sauce they give you or some chilli. This is one of the rare places to serve these dumplings, as you can imagine the hard labour making them, so £5 for eight seemed reasonable enough. The pastry wasn’t as doughy as I had read other reviewers write about, though the soup inside was definitely just as tasty.
The rest of the dim sum dishes we had were fairly sub-standard, considering the other competition all around them in Chinatown. Although each dish is cheap, with most priced at £1.80 or £2.00, the quality really reflects the price. The cheung fun (rice noodle rolls) barely held any filling, and the char xiu bao (steam BBQ pork buns) disappointingly unbalanced with mostly bread, and a bland filling. Considering that this is a Taiwanese place, I would stick to some of the dishes they specialise in, and skip what dim sum dishes you may be tempted by.
I found the atmosphere intriguing as well, where diners sit at rectangular dark wooden slate tables unlike the round white table clothed ones you’d find in restaurants nearby. Almost kitschy decorations in the form of armaments stand next to the staircase, towering over all the diners though obviously not very real.
Considering that we only spent £20 between the two of us, and we walked out of here considerably satisfied, I would come back when you want something a little bit different from the typical offerings of Chinatown.
Thekua.com Rating: 7 out of 10
I remember first reading about this place as one that apparently the Prime Minister of Malaysia used to come and eat at when visiting town. It also happens to feature quite frequently in the listings in Time Out magazine.
It looks small on the outside, and you can tell they’ve put in as many as tables as they could without making it too uncomfortable. The top floor entrance seemed buzzing with people, and with our 8:30pm booking, we ended up downstairs where it was a little bit less frenzied and a bit more relaxed. Large teardrop lightings fill the olive green painted walls with warmth with the dark brown square tables providing a sharp contrast to the dining atmosphere. They even had a more intimate dining ‘alcove’ downstairs which we saw one party fill, complete with mini teardrop downlights and black pseudo-leather couches.
Compared to a lot of other places, I have to say that their menu all looked really tempting and it was pretty hard to stay focused without being distracted by all they had to offer. Their menu is organised around rice, noodle, sides, chicken, beef, fish, prawn, vegetable and for those who can’t make up their minds, a series of different set menus matching both appetite and budget (£15.50 – £26.50)
All of their dishes really impressed me and I thought worth the little bit more that they charge. The very simple Nasi Aayam (steamed chicken with rice served with soy and chilli sauce) remained thoroughly moist and flavourful, even without the dipping sauces. The satay sticks had their perfect amount of smokiness, and also remained moist with the only downside being the peanut sauce not being as spicy as I would have liked it (and understanding that it typically isn’t that spicy). I also liked the fact that their mee goreng (friend noodles) contained plenty of flavour and not just soy sauce as evident from the heat given off from whatever chilli paste they used throughout it.
The only fault I can really give this restaurant was the rather lack lustre service that was never in your face yet, nor was it particularly attentive when you did want something.
TheKua.com Rating: 7 out of 10
I’m glad more and more decent cafes are opening up around Clerkenwell, especially since it’s very convenient for me. I’m therefore very glad that The Modern Pantry opens its cafe for breakfast Saturday and Sunday offering a decent selection from basics such as toast and porridge, to the more exotic sugar cured prawn omelette or feta and onion waffle.
Our group decided to try the ricotta pancakes, grape and stone fruit compote, creme fraiche and one of the classic fry up (with poached eggs instead).
The dining room is bright, helped by the large windows that surround two of the large walls. They also have a small bar area that people ended up standing in to avoid the squall-like downpours whilst they waited to be seated. It seemed to get quite busy the closer it seemed to lunchtime.
The coffee is reasonable, and with ex-Providores experience, a flat white order was taken without question. When it arrived, it was certainly a decent brew, although looked a bit lacklustre when it arrived. The breakfast menu is reasonably priced, and with high quality tasting ingredients I really couldn’t complain. The fry up came with perfectly poached eggs (the white just cooked with the yolk still runny) and flavourful tomatoes, mushrooms and salty streaky bacon crisp and not burnt. The pancakes on the other hand slightly disappointed. They were fluffy and light, yet the stone fruit compote towered over the small golden discs, and upset the delicate balance that should have been presented.
With a decent breakfast offering, I’d be interested to see what a proper lunch and dinner menu would look like in the upstairs dining rooms. It’s a welcome addition to the area, and a great place to meet up with friends.
TheKua.com Rating: 6.5 out of 10
I booked three of us in for dinner yesterday as I’ve walked past this place dozens of time. I’ve always thought it a little too fancy, most of the time seeing people in suits, or couples for some sort of romantic dinner. Inside it’s both intimate and roomy at the same time with most of the tables spread out against each wall, leaving plenty of personal space without the feeling that you’re dining by yourself.
The menu, put together by head Chef, Andrew Thompson is a combination of classic European dishes, nothing especially fancy, yet all very appealing such as seared salmon, rump of lamb and a crisp confit pork belly. Throughout the night, the kitchen impressed us with all the little food touches they brought throughout the evening, starting with a amuse bouche, a bread basket (white and olive bread), and a handful of bite-sized chocolate, caramel and chocolate chip assorted plate with the bill. The waiters presented the amuse bouche, describing that it was a gift from the chef, yet didn’t explain what it was exactly. Whatever it was supposed to be (to me it tasted like a small amount of pumpkin soup, drizzled with coriander oil and served in a shot glass), it was thick, creamy and definitely tasty.
The rest of the food, for some reason I found was reasonable and filling, yet not quite spectacular. All indicators pointed in the right direction – the monkfish I ordered perfectly cooked, the pork belly someone else ordered melt in the mouth, yet all dishes seemed overseasoned and though pleasing, missing that special thing to delight. Admittedly each dish was beautifully presented and we still enjoyed each dish.
Thankfully, service for most of the night really impressed us with our tap water constantly topped up, and enough time given for us to peruse the menu without waiting too long. I think it did break down was the rest of the restaurant filled, as after we had finished our desserts, we ended up waiting another ten minutes for the pot of mint tea we had ordered (with the desserts) finally arrived, and another significant amount of time to get the bill. Admittedly our waiter was extremely friendly, smiling all the time and quite helpful at explaining the menu.
Though I won’t be running back to the Clerkenwell Dining Room anytime soon, we had an enjoyable evening in a relaxing atmosphere, and indulged in quite a lot of food. I’d recommend this place for groups of up to four, and definitely more suited for doing business or the romantic dinner.
I’m catching up on an entry I should have posted a while back. I missed the final tour of the original power station before they closed it down for construction so I was pretty excited to hear that at least until the end of August, they had reopened the power station to the general public to showcase what’s happened since then.
It was free to enter although the first thing they do is shepherd everyone to the exhibition site where they showcase the plans for the entire area. It’s an impressive goal – effectively a sustainable eco system with a great balance between commercial needs and individuals.
After seeing the exhibition, you then have to sign a release form stating that you are understand the risk of walking around a construction site before you are let near the building. I have to say that as impressive as the building is from afar, in its current state, I found it amazing it attracted the number of people it did, since most of the insides had been pulled out and what was left was effectively a shell. Still (like a good English person) I ended up joining a queue at the end of the walk without really understanding what it was that I was queuing for. Considering that it was only a fifteen minute wait, it was worth it to get access to a viewing platform that stretched right into the heart of the building, where I witnessed the cavernous demolition site, and a picture of the future.
It’ll be interesting to see how close to the vision this ambitious company actually implements their plans, and it was definitely worth visiting the site.
Before arriving at this place, I had expected quite a lot. The restaurant looked roomy, bright and yet seemed just a little bit too empty for a Friday night near busy Trafalgar Square. Unfortunately it is just too out of the way of the tourist eyes to really catch that much attention. My biggest surprise about this restaurant is how it follows the "quick service" style made popular by Wagamama’s. As our waitress put it, "There are no starters, only sides." Even just like Wagamama’s, they print the desserts on the paper placement, writing the item numbers to remind them who ordered what.
Our waitress asked us if we had been before, and answering no, she gave us the grand tour of the menu, highlighting how it had been split up and what dishes needed additional sides. We decided to order the Rendang Tok, Mee Goreng, Tauhu Sayur, and satay skewers. Combined with the dessert, service and a couple of non alcoholic drinks, our total bill just reached £40 for two. Prices are reasonable with each dish hovering around £8.
The food arrived in different bursts, and although beautifully presented on bright white crockery, ended up overwhelmingly ordinary. Perhaps it was the fact that no dish actually came hot, or even warm, with all the dishes (with the exception of the satay) arriving at room temperature. To be honest, I just didn’t really know how to take that. I mean, either the kitchen doesn’t cook a lot of their dishes fresh (which I could believe), or the "quick service" is not really as ‘quick’ as they advertise. Either way, the result was the same for what should have been steaming white rice, or steaming freshly cooked noodles. The mee goreng honestly disappointed, mainly because it just tasted like a whole lot of vegetables quickly mixed with some egg noodles and none of the slightly charring I associate with this dish. The beef, as flavourful as it was, just didn’t melt in the mouth as it really should have and the tauhu wasn’t really anything special.
Surprisingly it was actually the desserts of the evening that ended up as the stars. A seriously creamy creme caramel in a dark treacle-like syrup and a sago pudding infused with palm sugar and coconut cream. I doubt I’ll be going back anytime soon, although it’s a passable choice if you have a craving for Malaysian food and happen to be in the area.
TheKua.com Rating: 5 out of 10