The Big Easy

Patrick Food, Restaurants, UK Life

The last place you would expect to find an American BBQ and Crabshack restaurant is stuck between Sloan Square and South Kensington tube stations, but even for its odd location The Big Easy restaurant has attracted enough people on a Friday night to be completely packed out. It’s not a short walk from either station but at least it’ll give you a chance to work off all the food options they offer. The restaurant has two floors, the top one with plenty of standing area around the bar for just taking in the vibe, but plenty of noise to keep the restaurant feeling busy and full. We were lucky enough to be early enough to grab a timed table, but if you have a large group I would definitely book ahead so that you aren’t at least rushed through your meal.

The menu offers quite a bit of stuff, from home style BBQ, seafood, burgers, fish, fajitas and deadly desserts (think of a Krispy Kreme with chocolate fondue – probably the equivalent calories for a full meal right there!). They offer plenty of alcoholic drinks including wine, cocktails and beers but surprisingly no milkshakes or other interesting non-alcoholic varieties you might expect to find in a place like this.

Service throughout our meal was not bad with drinks and food orders taken quite promptly and food arriving in plenty of time to escape our necessary table deadline. Our waitress was a little bit harder to get a hold of when we wanted the bill, but nothing that caused too much undue stress. Expect all meals here to have a 12.5% gratuity automatically added.

I ended up ordering the full rack of Baby back ribs which I took quite a lot home in the end. It was served with Baked Beans in a BBQ sauce, corn on the cob and coleslaw – all of which was actually really tasty. The beans sat in a very tasty sauce, and the corn on the cob was both fresh and extremely tasty on its own (I’m guessing a little bit of butter or seasoning had been added). The coleslaw was pretty standard and ended up being slightly overrun from the sauce of the beans towards the end of the meal.

I was very impressed by the ribs, although not as tender as others I’ve had before, had the perfect amount of charred flesh, and smothered in a great well rounded sauce that was neither too tangy, nor sweet. It was a shame they didn’t have a bottle of that sauce at the table. The ribs went down like a treat and was fairly easy to eat without the tacky dining bib our waitress offered.

I’d definitely come back here sometime if I had a craving for BBQ.

Details: The Big Easy
Found on: 69 332-334 Kings Road, Chelsea, London SW3 5UR
Contactable on: 020 7354 4071
Highlights: Busy atmosphere, good BBQ, decent decorations
Room for improvement: It’s not that close to any tube stations. Need to book head.
The Kua Rating: 7.5 out of 10

London Marathon

Patrick UK Life

London MarathonOn Sunday, my flatmate Claire and I walked down to watch the marathon runners as they started heading into the final stretch along the Thames. We were very impressed by the pace many people had set and continued to run by. It was great fun encouraging all the runners on, and we joined the crowd in calling out people’s names to encourage them for the final stretch.

It was nice when they gave you a smile or a wave back, with some even saying “Cheers” or “Thanks” back. Lots of people went by in costumes and the great weather helped in taking some nice pictures of the runners. You can check out the rest of them here.

Bloc Party, Brxiton Academy

Patrick Music, UK Life

I’d managed to get some tickets to see South London indie rock band, Bloc Party at Brixton Academy. As usual, the academy was packed out and the usual ticket scalpers stood at the Tube station entrance trying to work the market. We missed the first support act (Mahogany), but caught the second support act, Biffy Clyro who were very impressive and played a very decent set. I’d highly recommend trying to find a track or two of theirs to listen to.

Bloc Party

Bloc party came on in no time and really got the crowd pumping. We were upstairs which was seated although that didn’t stop some people from standing up. Strangely enough, security constantly went through the crowd in waves shouting at people to sit back down, the first time I’ve seen that at Brixton upstairs. It turned into a little bit of a game with many of the attendants as it became what looked like a whack-o-mole game.

The band played a fantastic set, part of which came from their new album, A Weekend in the City, and the other, made up of many hits from their previous album, Silent Alarm.

Thekua.com Rating: 7 out of 10

Too many options?

Patrick Food, Travel

I still find it fascinating travelling to the US how many little choices you have to make at most meals. In the UK and Europe choice comes from the vastly different menu options of one restaurant to another – in the US, choice seems to be dictated by how many variations of the same meal you can order at a place. You see it frequently when Americans visit and want one thing substituted for something else, or perhaps an additional thing on the side.

Take a standard breakfast in America. Most places in the UK would just list the specific items on the menu. In the US, those choices are up to you.

Options at breakfast in the US

Sometimes it’s a good thing but at many other times I found all I want to do is order food and get back to conversations with people at the table instead of the endless choice of how I want my potatoes, or which sauce I want with a steak or a burger, with my idea being that the chef preparing the menu should know what’s best.

Phoenix, Arizona

Patrick Travel

Downtown ScottsdaleAfter my conference, I took the weekend off to stay in downtown Scottsdale before heading back home. Scottsdale is one of the other cities that is sort of part of Phoenix and is the cultural centre of Phoenix with plenty of arts galleries and performances around. I didn’t have many options but to stay in Scottsdale because I didn’t have a car and Phoenix is really one of those places where you need one, even to get to tourist attractions because of a dire lack of a public transport system.

Walking around Scottsdale is easy enough with a tourist centre providing big maps plotting out all the interesting sights. It’s easy enough to walk around the entire city within a day but it did give me an opportunity to unwind and enjoy the warmth of the desert. There’s plenty of cultural entertainment and I was lucky enough to catch a Native Trails performance produced by the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, sharing many of the indigenous American traditions including music and dance.

I don’t think the city is sustainable at the rate of growth and development they’re pushing for though. In the midst of the desert, they are trying to bring back the canal into huge use and continue the development of “water-front” apartments. I’m lead to believe there is already a water issue coming and yet many people insist on having grass on their front lawns, and the water-hungry plants that they might be used to in other parts of the country, not realising the demands it requires from their current environment.

28 Weeks Later

Patrick Movies, UK Life

28 Days Later was a pretty impressive film for me mainly for the way it managed to empty (or simulate) many parts of London (such as the ever busy area of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey).

28 Weeks Later

I stumbled across this painted sign (above) all over pathways around East London and is promoting the upcoming sequel release, 28 Weeks Later. I don’t know if they had local council or city approval, but I like way this biohazard symbol is enigmatically painted all over the pavements. This one I caught outside Old Street station on the way to Hoxton Square.

Viva Las Vegas

Patrick Travel

Las Vegas is a very strange city with so many aspects adult oriented yet heavily advertised as a grand place for families. It seems like almost everything is available in Las Vegas, and is extremely surreal given that its sits in the middle of the desert. Most of the visible action can be found on the main strip, fondly called The Strip with many of the hotels constantly reinventing themselves and building bigger, and better attractions and amusements to lure people to spend more time and money inside. Read more “Viva Las Vegas”

Worst Long Haul Flight Ever

Patrick Annoyances, Travel

Although a trip to the West Coast of the States isn’t as bad as it can be flying home to Australia from the UK, it’s amazing how little things can make the trip a lot more painful. How’s this sound for a not-very-ideal trip:

  • An hour by train
  • Two hours at the Gatwick airport
  • A ten and a half hour flight into Dallas
  • Two hours standing in queue to get through immigration
  • You miss your connecting flight to Vegas by ten minutes
  • Another two hour wait in the airport for the next flight
  • Another three hour flight to Las Vegas
  • A half hour waiting for luggage only to discover it never made it on your flight

My only consolation was that my hotel had only one room left by the time I got there and it just so happened it was a Jacuzzi suite (click more to see the picture) Read more “Worst Long Haul Flight Ever”