thekua.com@rest – Page 55

Another Year At The Notting Hill Carnival

September 2, 2007 Patrick UK Life

Three years in a row and for some reason I just can’t stay away from the hustle and bustle of the Notting Hill Carnival. Despite the two shootings reported on the news, for the most part, the Carnival is a very friendly and easy going atmosphere. Your best bet (as with most things) is to stay in the open areas where police roam and not to delve down small streets where you might find more trouble.

This year I ended up heading out with a some friends I’ve made in London including Dana, Luca, Toni, Ajit and Julie. We walked around for a little bit, joining in some of the festivities by watching some of the parade, and then hanging out at one of the music outlets whilst the sun continued to shine. There are plenty of different areas, each with their own vibe and attracting all sorts of people.

We spent quite a lot of the afternoon hanging around and even managed to fit in the obligatory meal of Jerk Chicken for dinner. Check out the rest of the photos here.

Firehouse Rotisserie

August 29, 2007 Patrick Food, Restaurants, Travel, UK Life

After looking for somewhere nice to eat in Bath and discounting all the Michelin starred restaurants because they were not really accessible without a car, we ended up booking dinner at the Firehouse Rotisserie, a Californian themed restaurant serving modern American cuisine. Forget burgers and think more of wood fired pizzas and, as the name suggests, rotisserie cooked meats. We started with the Goats Cheese Fondue and the Duck Quesadillas, both of which I think we could have both skipped. The Goats Cheese Fondue looked like it was simply bubbling Goats Cheese served with some corn chips and the Duck Quesadillas were disappointingly dry and not very spicy at all. The only good thing about the quesadillas is that it had been served with two small salads.

The mains looked much more promising, with both of getting the two different rotisserie cooked chickens – a dry rubbed BBQ one, and a lemon and herb infused one. Each serve had two pieces of chicken, a breast and a leg, both of which remained surprisingly moist despite looking rather dry. The herb encrusted one had plenty of flavour, though was much more subtle than the salty and spiced BBQ one. I’d say that the herb chicken dish definitely had far too much going on their plate, including bacon, cooked lemons and a dijon tarragon aioli that would not have been missed had it not been there. The BBQ chicken was a bit more balanced with a delicious jalapeno coleslaw complementing the sweet and spicy chicken.

We finished with dessert, firstly a mango and white chocolate brulee and a chocolate brownie served with a refreshing coconut ice-cream. The brulee mixture really didn’t work very well with the subtle creamy texture of the white chocolate brulee ruined by a watery and over-poweringly sweet mango base. Though still very nice and an exceptionally large portion, I don’t think I’d order it again. The brownie on the other hand went down very well and the coconut ice cream surprisingly went well with it, though it is a dish that’s pretty hard to get wrong.

Details: Firehouse Rotisserie (Bath)
Found on: 2 John Street, Bath, BA1 2JL
Contactable on: 01225 482070
Highlights: Different California cuisine with interesting rotisserie offerings. Good selection of extras and reasonable main dish prices.
Room for improvement: Very ordinary starters, service nothing special and could simplify a number of their dishes as it looks like they’re trying just too hard.
The Kua Rating: 7 out of 10

Bob Sleighing in Bath

August 28, 2007 Patrick UK Life

Bath, a home for bob sleighing? Yes, it sounds really strange but it’s true. Built in 2000 and modelled to the exact specifications of the one built for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, the University of Bath is home to the training grounds of the British Bob Sleigh team. It opens twice a month to give ordinary people like you and me to give the sport a good go. We booked our experience via a 2 for 1 offer on Lastminute.com and based on all the pink folders everyone brought around, looked like a common channel for the twenty or so other people as well.

I was a little bit sceptical about the entire thing, thinking that you’d get a couple of runs and it’d be over in half an hour. Pleasantly surprised, I think each group of four got at least eight or ten different runs including a few warm up ones. You practice as a team, first getting into the bob sleigh without actually running and slowly building up to full out running and jumping in. Most people seemed to have no problems running and getting in, although one team seemed to have a little timing problem that left the last person out. The sleigh is definitely cosy and you end up getting to know you’re team mates very intimately as you squish in to try to go as fast as possible.

We shared our sleigh with a couple from Essex and ended up actually having a very good afternoon with them, even winning the mini challenge at the end of the day. I can’t say it’s not a tiring experience as you do end up sprinting but was quite a lot of fun.

A Weekend in Bath

August 27, 2007 Patrick Travel, UK Life

Like anybody who’d seen the long weekend coming up, it seemed like a good time to get out of London. I haven’t made much of an effort to see the rest of England (it’s something I’m working on), so this long weekend I ended up in the famous city of Bath. It’s a fantastically old city with plenty of historical buildings that date way back to the Roman era. There are plenty of tours and guides around town, and of course plenty of tourists to go with them. In fact, in summer and on beautiful days you’ll find the little streets, and the tourist attractions such as the Roman Baths almost claustrophobically busy. Luckily we missed most of the busy periods and still got to see all the things that we wanted to see.

We left Paddington at a ridiculous hour of 6:30am Saturday morning in order to arrive in time for a Madmax tour that took us to nearby Stonehenge, Avery, Lacock and Castle Coombe. I’d been warned by friends that Stonehenge is nothing to make a special trip out for, and they were very much correct. The stones aren’t as high as you’d imagine, blown out of proportion by photos and films, and the circle is also not as big as you’d imagine, with the stones in Avery much larger in diameter. It’s still worth seeing though and still looks magnificent after all the tourists that come by and see it. You walk anti-clockwise around the stones based on the tour guide, although one guy who was randomly going up to people said that it’s better to go clockwise to “tap into its energies”. We gave it a try, but didn’t find it really did anything but give us a good way to escape his crazy rantings. Visiting Avery if you’re in the area is recommended with a greater circle of stones, and a much larger henge that effectively encompassed the entire town.

Must do activities if you come to Bath include seeing the inside of the Roman Baths who now have Bill Bryson offering additional commentary on their audio tour. It’s also worth going up to the French markets for a look around, and then up to Victoria Park that has some stunning gardens and the very expensive houses along the Crescent Road. There’s an excellent walking tour that local guides conduct for free (meeting Sunday morning at 10:30am outside the Pump Rooms at the Roman Baths) taking you along to many of the historical sites. We even had a small celebrity spot on our walking tour, seeing Nicholas Cage coming out of his newly purchased home (apparently for £4m!) just near Victoria Park.

In terms of food there are plenty of options to choose from, though it’s better if you call ahead and book especially for weekends. The nearby cities of Somerset and Bristol are home to many of Michelin starred restaurants though you will need a car to get to any of them. Bath also has plenty of options for cream tea and for something a little bit more traditional, the famous Sally Lunn’s is well worth the wait just to taste a very strange light and airy bun.

Bath is a great city break destination and although there are plenty of tourists around, it’s historical significance and architectural might easily make up for all the bustle.

Where’s the good cake? Peyton And Byrne

August 23, 2007 Patrick Food, UK Life, Where's the good cake?

I’m starting a new series of “Where’s the good…” focused this time on cake since there’s a handful of very nice places around town I think people should know about. One of these such places is Peyton and Byrne, located in the middle of the large building housing Habitat and Heals on Tottenham Court Road. The store itself is small compared to the two behemoths its nestled in, though it simple and clean presentation draws crowds to its wares.

Peyton and Byrne offer much than cake, including biscuits, slices, tarts although on my visit I went for one of the small cupcakes in the window thinking it would give me a good idea of what they had on offer. Most of the cup cakes on display are based on a deep rich chocolate cake mixture, and covered in a huge amount of flavoured icing. The one you see in the picture above is the Mint Chocolate one. The cake was deliciously moist, and although the ratio to icing to cake is almost one-to-one, it somehow worked. I can definitely recommend one of these cup cakes though next time I would try one of the slices of cakes on offer.

You can find Peyton and Bryne in two places in London

Peyton and Byrne at Heals – 196 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7LQ
Peyton and Byrne at The Wellcome Collection – 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE

Japan Centre’s Toku Restaurant

August 20, 2007 Patrick Food, Restaurants, UK Life

The Japan Centre is nestled in the heart of bustling Picadilly madness. It’s a multi-storied building fully kitted out with a Japanese grocery store, a book store, travel store and with the main floor being their restaurant called Toku. On a Saturday, the crowd inside is almost frenzied with plenty of people moving in and out of the main floor, as well as going up and down the stairs. Fortunately it wasn’t raining on the weekend I went, so at least the waves of people could escape outside.

I sat at the sushi bar, located to the left of the entrance as you walk in and where three chefs were preparing all of the sushi and what looked like, all of the tempura orders as well. As soon as you are seated, an attendant will draw a small bowl of wasabi peas from a large container – probably the one thing that pushes the service charge up from your standard to their 12.5%. Admittedly it’s a nice thing to snack on these things as you peruse the impressive menu choice. The first two pages are all drinks with a huge selection of sake, Japanese beer, plenty of normal soft drinks and juices and many Japanese drinks, including my most favourite ones – Ramune and Calpico.

The sushi menu is vast, though ordering by the piece is expensive such as £6 for two pieces of the eel nigiri! Other dishes, particularly the lunch sets or the don (rice bowl) dishes offered more value. Not able to turn down the chance of trying the eel, I still ordered the expensive nigiri sushi as well as the Katsudon dish that comes with miso soup.

The sushi was the first out of the dishes to arrive and though beautifully presented, was also the smallest bit of eel I’d seen for a while. The typical sauce, not quite lavishly dripping off the eel itself, was artfully dotted around the wooden platform it had been presented on and accompanied by the typical ginger and wasabi paste. The katsudon was much more pleasing with the perfect amount of egg and dashi sauce covering the kastu on the rice, and not too much rice that you ended up with a whole heap at the end of your meal.

Although meals here are reasonable, stay away from ordering sushi for the piece, and even then, the sushi sets are pretty expensive compared to many other places (like Donzoko). The bowl dishes and the the non-sushi sets offer much better value.

Details: Toku
Found on: Japan Centre, 212 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9HX
Contactable on: 020 7255 8255
Highlights: Authentic Japanese food with a huge variety of everything
Room for improvement: Sushi is overpriced and it’s really busy
The Kua Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Two Years In London

August 19, 2007 Patrick UK Life

Yesterday was the end of my second year in London, something that I can’t believe has gone by very quickly. There are still plenty of things to discover, plenty more people to meet and much more interesting work opportunities than what’s back in Brisbane though you do have to ignore the weather issues (such as where did summer go?), and the overloaded public transport problems.

I’m probably not going to be making it home this year, particularly since flight prices have sky rocketed with fuel surcharges and excess taxes. Also, if you can’t tell, I’m not yet tired of living in London just yet!

Where’s the good coffee? Flat White

August 15, 2007 Patrick Food, UK Life, Where's the good coffee?

This awesome little coffee store is easy to miss despite its location in the middle of Soho just because it sits behind all the stalls along the Berwick Street Market. Its suitably dark interior invites the coffee aficionado inside to sit at one of the small tables, or rest and gaze out into the world at through the window. If you’re more inclined to be seen people watching, they also offer a couple of benches outside.

Asking for a Flat White anywhere but Australia and New Zealand is guaranteed to bring a look of confusion as it’s a style of coffee that hasn’t yet been embraced by the rest of the world. Unsurprisingly then this store, initially setup to educate the rest of the world (or at least London) about better coffee, now attracts local and Antipodeans alike (both in front and behind the coffee bar).

Besides really good coffee, they also sell plenty of other items, including your standard pastries, cakes and sandwiches. Better yet they also have a small fridge out back that sells one of my favourite Italian soft drinks, Chinotto, a bitter citrus flavoured drink.

Location: Flat White is found on 17 Berwick Street, London, W1F 0PT (Google Map link)