Every summer London plays host to a Singapore Chilli Crab Festival. I’ve always had the greatest intentions of checking it out but to be honest the thought of fighting through the crowds is a serious turn off. Plus, the chill crab tends to be a tad messy to eat and enjoy properly so I’d much rather sit down and enjoy the crab in more civilised surroundings. The chilli crab is cooked in a yummy gravy of tomato and chilli sauce and apparently unofficially the national dish of Singapore though there is historical dispute about whether it originated in Malaysia or Singapore. Whatever. I’m just grateful that we can find a restaurant in London that serves it and the fact that its local to me is even more of a bonus.

I’ve been to Kiasu once before don’t remember being that thrilled by it though that’s not to say it was horrible – simply not memorable. Serving a range of East Asian dishes (Singaporean, Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Filipino) you’ll never want for options if you want to take a tour of Asia. Kiasu relies on a quick turnover of diners so its not the kind of place where you are going to camp out for the night and the cosy seating arrangement in a way discourages that.

Although we knew we wanted the Chilli Crab dish (I’d even rung up the day before just to make sure it was available) that didn’t stop us also picking up a beef satay starter, a noodle dish and some veges. In hindsight we should have asked them to bring the noodle dish and veges after our crab as it took our full concentration to eat the giant dish! The tiny table couldn’t cope with all our dishes so the waiter efficiently joined our table up with another!

There’s also fresh, crusty bread to mop up all the sauce so not one bit is left.

Quickly on the other dishes – the beef satay was pretty tasty if a bit over-cooked, the char kwey teoh was delciously smoky and the veges in garlic were tasty though Pat thought it was too salty – all reasonbly priced for the portions we received. At £15.80 the crab, our headline act, seemed to be great value. It was superb. The sauce was to die for and seriously tasty. The crab was also served with two fried breads (the sweet Asian variety) which went well with the sauce. Could have done with more to sop it all up. The only thing I would say about the dish is that its not a dating dish. I don’t know how Pat managed to keep his hands fairly clean but I certainly wasn’t a lady when I was eating it and managed to get it dripping all over my hands and nearly halfway down my arms. Animal but it was too delicious to eat politely. 😉

Overall I would say I was happy with my Kiasu experience. Service-wise it was only slightly disappointing when we first arrived – we were left to stand around for about 5-10 minutes in a clearly empty restaurant whilst the waiters seemingly ignored us. The other disappointment was only being able to pay in cash despite maestro etc. signs posted on the door. The could have told us this at the beginning of the meal – luckily we had cash to cover.

I haven’t seen Jenny in what feels like absolute ages so tonight we headed to the Sherlock Bar and Grill for a good gossip session. Ours first choice, Floridita, was unfortunately booked out so the cool sounds of jazz over yummy Latin food will have to wait for another occasion. Sherlock Bar and Grill is actually not themed on anything other than taking advantage of its Baker Street location to capitalise on the good name of one Sherlock Holmes.

The restaurant is located to the rear of the lobby of the Park Plaza Hotel and behind the lounge bar so the contrast as we walked in at 6.30 tonight was quite astounding as we made our way through a loud and buzzing bar to an absolutely empty restaurant devoid of any atmosphere whatsoever. Not that we minded so much as we were there for a natter anyway. By the time we left the small restaurant was quite full – maybe something to do with hotel restaurants not getting busy until late.

The menu is Modern Europen with a decent, if not particularly innovative, selection on their a la carte menu covering game, meat, fish and something for the vegetarian. Jenny and I decided to go with mains and desserts (how could I resist the berry and lemongrass crumble with vanilla ice cream) with Jenny opting for a divine looking monk fish and tiger prawn dish and me opting for my usual salmon with a gigantic side of mash.

My dish looked okay but the colours kinds of reflected the taste – green and white – unfortunately I think they must have forgotten to season the dish as it wasn’t particularly tasty! Thankfully the fried onions from our complimentary breads were still hanging around to mix in with the dish. Actually, the breads were pretty darn good with three kinds of bread given to us without being asked for and served with a nice balsamic vinegar/olive oil combo.

Service was pretty decent tonight though at the beginning when there were not many diners one of the waitresses was strangely more pre-occupied with folding serviettes than seeing if anyone in the room needed her attention. We were taking advantage of 50% off food top table offer so the food was extremely good value for what we got. Though I wouldn’t say the Sherlock Bar and Grill was anything spectacular and special I would say with the 50% off offer its not a bad option if you want some decent grub (just choose a bit more wisely than me and don’t choose the poached salmon!)

I’ve had a craving for a few months now for some really good Katsudon (and some sneaky unagi ngiri) and Sakura is the place to go – at £6.50 this dish is a bargain and soo tasty too. I’ve actually tried to come here a few times for lunch but it is always heaving with lines nearly out the door.

Today I headed to the restaurant just after the lunch rush and was immediately seated at the sushi bar. I’ve read recent reviews on this restaurant and the majority of them seemed to be quite disappointed in the service but I had no such issue with it – the wait staff were pleasant to me, even laughing and joking around with me, and the food was served immediately – piping hot and delicous to boot.

Craving satisfied!

Its been a while since us three girls, Sandra, Pauline and I, had a catch up all together. Finally we were able to nab an evening when all three of us were available. Our first choice for dinner (Pho) was unavailable by reservation so we cruised my website of the year, toptable, for another venue and landed on Bowler Bar and Grill. We have actually been here before having sampled a gorgeous mint aero martini before moving on to another restaurant so we weren’t unfamiliar with the place but none of us had ever eaten here. If you’re looking for it the place is actually not that well placed – its tucked away on a small side street down some stairs. The first time we came here we missed it about three times!

Presenting British food with a twist Bowler Bar and Grill is sells itself as a “vibrant restaurant and bar”
in the heart of Chelsea. From our experience it doesn’t get vibrant until at least after eight pm when the diners start to come in and fill the tables. Having said that there is a noticeable buzz around the small bar area generally around 6.30 but it makes a strange contrast to the nearly empty dining room at that time. In either case it was definitely quite busy when we left at about 9pm tonight.

Bearing in mind this venue is in Chelsea I’m surprised that the a la carte prices are not actually Chelsea-ish – fairly reasonable for the area. Tonight we went one step further and took advantage of a current deal where we could have 2 courses for £9.95 or 3 courses for £12.95. An absolute bargain.

I was quite happy with my choices in the:
– curried parsnip soup and fresh bread as a starter. A surprisingly tasty combination that worked well and the bread was perfectly warmed – light and crusty on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Actually Sandra commented that the soup was like drinking korma! It was certainly tasty and had a bit of a zing to it.
– poached salmon with tarragon cream, fresh herbs & pureed potato as my main. This dish was nice though admittedly nothing adventurous or I didn’t see the spin.
– the apple and rhubarb crumble for dessert (I couldn’t resist) was perfect and I was pleased they allowed us to substitute ice cream for the custard. Interestingly our waitress was saying that the rhubarb was black rhubarb but as she was not an english speaking native I’m not sure if that was a little lost in translation.

Overall I was quite pleased with our meal and the service we received was outstanding. It was friendly, efficient and in fact just the right level. Our waitress in particular was a star – she was super friendly and surprisingly very perceptive and responsive – even when it started to get quite a bit busier. The only disappointment of the night was that we didn’t really get to experience what the Bowler Bar and Grill’s specialty – meat! Next time it’ll be steak I think!