The picture above is what I woke up to (very late) this morning. It looks like we may still have a summer yet. Thanks to the rain clouds for seriously pouring down yesterday so that today ended up just as nice. Now I need to get out of the house!
Experimentation means failure, though I still reckon it’s worth the success. Fortunately my most recent experiment, Pandan flavoured friands actually turned out okay. I figured that adapting the Lime and Coconut recipe shouldn’t be too hard to turn into something more tropical.
The outcome: Light and moist combined with subtle undertones of sweet, coconut and pandan flavour. I think it might work better with slightly less sugar and butter and increased coconut cream next time. The recipe I used follows suit… Read more “Pandan Flavoured Friands”
A couple of weeks back I finally caught up with Ben, Michelle, Gerrod and Kristy at the very enjoyable The Gate restaurant out at Hammersmith. When I trialled Vegetarianism back in January, this place had been on my must-do list although dropped off quickly as the month and the rest of the year flew by. Since it was a place quite close to everyone else, I thought it’d be a great spot to wine, dine and have a nice chat.
The restaurant is in the midst of a bright and airy converted loft, although the building looks like part church. Tables inside this lovely dining space are limited so make sure you book early and with proper numbers to ensure a spot especially on weekends. The menu is uniquely different and takes a step away from being your classic vegetarian foods. Their recipes mix and match lots of different vegetables to achieve fantastic tasting combinations. My starter, the Butternut and Cashew Samosa had the perfect blend of sweetness and crunchiness that was really moreish. Thankfully I held back my temptation to have more as my Aubergine Teriyaki dish arrived at the same time. According to their menu, it’s:
grilled aubergine crumbed & layered with coriander pesto, roasted red pepper, plum tomatoes & horseradish, served with stir-fried noodles
and a very enjoyable different dish at that. The aubergine was crispy on the outside, with its surprisingly sweet filling and the small kick from the horseradish.
To finish off, I could not resist the temptation of the Lavender Creme Brulee. Not one to rarely refuse dessert, I’m very glad it didn’t really cross my mind since not only was the custard perfectly set, and the top caramelised to the right amount, but the unique flavour of Lavender really shone through. As Gerrod mentioned, it was
“like a Creme Brulee and an air freshener put together, but in a good way.”
The menu is not exactly your everyday, run of the mill food and although prices reflect their uniqueness, is quite worth it for the appropriate occasion. I’d definitely go back there again someday!
Details: The Gate, not to be confused by the dozen other “The Gate” places around London
Found on: 51 Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith, W6 9QL
Contactable on: 020 8748 6932
Highlights: Amazing combinations of really flavoursome vegetarian foods and plenty of options to choose from. The dining room is a really spacious lofty room that gives enough privacy though still feels very buzzing with the number of diners. You can also buy a cookbook to try out some of their recipes at home.
Room for improvement: A well deserved reputation means not enough tables so book ahead. Prices are quite expensive for vegetarian though I still think worth it.
The Kua Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Seeing as Jaimee hasn’t updated for sometime, I thought I’d better write about our little outing on Sunday. After a brief SMS conversation with Ben, I ended up heading out to a picnic on Sunday in Green Park to welcome Dave back into the country.
The picnic started out very promising with enough blue patches to keep us hopeful for the rest of the afternoon. Shortly after 2pm, a light shower saw us head for the trees at which point, the very perceptive though not as discrete Jaimee shouted out “It’s Joshua Jackson“, who is best known for his role, in my generation, as Pacey from Dawson’s creek. He and a female companion were walking down the centre of the park while the rest of us sheltered between our shared brollies.
I’ve probably walked by a few celebrities by now (especially considering how many C and D level celebrities exist in England) though I never really seem to notice them. Oh well, first official spot (even if it was by someone else). Thanks Jaimee!
If you want something fast and relatively affordable, then perhaps Soho Pizzeria is for you. A West End Italian restaurant that apparently is popular with lots of locals, this venue also offers live music (lots of Jazz) on most nights of the week. Pizza and pasta offerings are fairly average, though with prices starting at just over a fiver and most other dishes well below eight quid there’s not too much to complain about.
They offer an extensive wine list although be warned it’s obvious they must must quiet a bit from the non-alcoholic drinks (£1.75 for a 250mL juice!). Being an Italian restaurant, this restaurant also offers a decent range of desserts including Tiramisu and a rather disappointing frozen block of Cassata.
Details: Soho Pizzeria
Found on: 16-18 Beak Street, London W1F 9RD
Contactable on: 020 7434 2480
Highlights: Lots of dining table, cheap pizza and pasta and live music on most days of the week.
Room for improvement: Food generally was so-so and drinks are well overpriced.
The Kua Rating: 6 out of 10
What: Oxegen, rock music festival
When: July 7 – July 8, 2007
Where: Punchestown Racecourse, Ireland
Highlights
I enjoyed Saturday’s line-up the most with an amazing set by Muse finishing at 2am and a stunning light show. A very modest Snow Patrol also performed a very enjoyable set just before them. Pigeon Detective’s lead singer made quite a show when asked to have mud thrown at him and a never-ending supply streamed towards him throughout their entire set.
Other bands we managed to see on Saturday included The Rumblestripes, The View, The Maccabees, The Goo Goo Dolls, The Gossip, The Fratellis, Kings of Leon, and Maximo Park.
I found Sunday’s headliners, The Killers, slightly disappointing with a relatively quiet performance and regretfully missed an amazing light show by Daft Punk on the other stage. Highlights of Sunday must go to the Klaxons who performed a much heavier than expected set and the energetic bouncing Scotsman, Calvin Harris. Thankfully we got around to seeing all the people we wanted to see, even if it was in very small doses including Razorlight, Babyshambles, Arcade Fire, The Kooks, Bloc Party, CSS, James Morrison, The Thrills, Jason Mraz, Unklejam and Bright Eyes.
I particularly appreciated the food options available that went much further than your typical burger and chips with stalls serving food such as hog roast rolls, falafels, fresh salads, crepes, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, paella and Italian food though most meals cost between €7-€10
Lowlights
I went completely unprepared bringing only a pair of old trainers only to swap them very quickly for some new wellies. It didn’t seem like I was the only one at least. Thankfully my raincoat kept the rest of me relatively dry for the most part. By Sunday almost everywhere you stepped was at least ankle-deep pools of mud or muddy water. Getting back to Dublin on Sunday night post-festival almost ended up in disaster when the organised Dublin bus system completely broke down and people started stampeding their way onto any available bus. I’m amazed no one got crushed.
Overall it was still quite a great experience, as tiring and exhausting and as dirty as it got. Plenty worth it for the number of bands we got to see and the fun and friendly atmosphere. See the rest of the photos that turned out here.
Festivals over here mean something plenty different to the ones back home. Chances are you’ll skip the sweltering heat to be replaced by lots of rain and what follows… plenty of mud. After just getting back from Ireland (about half an hour ago), to attend Oxegen I assure you we were in no short supply of all that brown stuff. More to come in a day or two.
It’s only about six attempts later but on Thursday I finally managed to have a meal at Japanese restaurant Inaho. When I used to live in Bayswater, I had several, obviously, failed attempts at dining at this place. It seemed so innocent – a very small restaurant, painted blue on the outside yet seemingly very popular when open. It’s definitely not open on Sunday, and only open Saturday evenings and I definitely recommend booking for dinner especially then. I’d probably even book for dinner during the week just to make sure.
To say the place is small is very generous – the restaurant only contains about eight or ten tables of which the majority only seat two people. Even still the tables that are inside sit very closely to each other, maybe at most ten centimetres apart. It feels almost canteen-like Wagamama style but not quite there.
Their menu offering seems quite broad and similar to the more authentic Japanese restaurants in London. Their menu includes a decent selection of sushi, as well as a small number of dishes such as udon, soba and Japanese salad. We ended up having my favourite unagi sushi, that tasted extremely fresh. The tender eel flesh was moist and just warmed through with just enough sauce to balance it out. We also tried the teriyaki chicken, some udon and kara-age (Japanese fried chicken) that all went down very easily. You do have to pay extra for rice as many of the main dishes do not come automatically with it.
Unlike many reviews I read, our waitress spoke excellent English and although service wasn’t forth-coming, we didn’t really have any problems ordering or getting the bill. I’m not sure if I would make a cross town trip just to have Japanese at this place, but I would definitely eat there again if I was in the area.
Details: Inaho
Found on: 4 Hereford Road, London, W2 4AA
Contactable on: 0871 3327807
Highlights: Tasty Japanese food. It feels like a very friendly atmosphere and I can probably guess it is still family-run.
Room for improvement: Need to really plan ahead. The small handful of tables together with the tiny space mean that you end up quite intimate with a number of other diners.
The Kua Rating: 7 out of 10