Monthly Archives: September 2011

The Troll Hunter

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Sometimes the best movies are the ones that sneak up on you. Craig and I made a last minute decision to check out the Norwegian fantasy film The Troll Hunter and I must say it was one of the most enjoyable and fun movies that I’ve seen in a very long time. Filmed in the style most recently made famous by The Blair Witch Project, The Troll Hunter is an infinitely classier production. Not that I’ve seen The Blair Witch Project myself but there was something about the humour mixed in with realism and fantasy in tonight’s movie that made it pretty special.

The Troll Hunter follows a group of students who want to tell the story of trolls under the theory that there has been some giant government cover-up to hide their existence. They team up with a reluctant “bear” hunter, played by Norwegian comedian Otto Jespersen, to try and capture these trolls.

I think it was the wit and the dead-pan way that the whole story was told that drew me into this film and it almost fit into the so-silly-it-was-utterly-enjoyable-category. The actors, mostly unknown, were superb and I really loved Otto!

Its very hard to explain the magic it wove over me but I’m definitely under the spell of The Troll Hunter. Troll! A must see film.

Port of Manila

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I keep looking for that perfect Filipino restaurant in London but alas my search still continues. Every Thursday I got to the markets for lunch at Hammersmith, specifically I go to the Port of Manila stall as they serve some of my favourite Filipino dishes: Lechon (roast pork), Bicol Express (pork stew of chillie, shrimp paste, and coconut milk) and afritada (meat stew in tomato sauce with vegetables normally including carrots, capsicum and plaintain.) Thinking that I could build on this success I thought it would be a good idea to also check out their restaurant located nearby.

Both our starters just ended up being of the deep fried variety – White Bait and Lumpia Shanghai (Mini minced pork roll served with sweet chilli sauce.) Ok without being stunning. My Mum’s Lumpia shanghai are much nicer 😉

For main’s I thought we should try something that’s slightly unusual for those not used to Filipino dishes – Kare Kare (Tender Ox tail & tripe in peanut sauce with annatto oil, pak choi, aubergine, string beans served with sautéed shrimp paste) and of course a BBQ dish (chicken on this occasion.) Done well Kare Kare is a comforting dish (though without the shrimp paste could be a bit mild tasting for some) but I guess I should have known better than to order it in a restaurant where we were the first (and for most of the meal, only diners.) Kare Kare relies on the meat being tender, soft and fall off the bone and realistically unless the restaurant has a pot sitting there stewing away, the dish you will get is going to be tough and unsatisfying. The BBQ was alright though I would have been happier with more meat and less veg. heh heh.

I would have liked to have sampled dessert, since the Philippines is actually one Asian country that does good ones, but sadly we had to depart to make our movie.

Overall, Port of Manila was not a bad experience. The staff/owners are friendly (it was hard to measure true efficiency as we were the only customers for the most part) and accommodating. Food is reasonably priced. I still think I’m looking for that killer Filipino restaurant. Perhaps I just have to eat in the Kitchen of Dad and Mum …

MADD

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Impossibly I’ve found a dessert which is actually too sweet even for my sweet tooth. MADD (I think standing for Mango ADDiction) is a dessert/coffee lounge which opened up about seven months ago and its twist is that every dish is inspired by mangoes. I imagine the venue was hoping to capitalise on the health benefits of mango as a fruit … probably overlooking the fact that all the extra sugar that went into all the other bits would outweigh the nutrition! Sigh.

The owners of MADD have tried to make the venue a place for you to hang out in with games such as Connect 4 and Jenga on the tables, jugs of tap water that you can help yourself to, and available electrical points (presumably to plug in laptops etc.) Having said that the shop is not particularly big and any more then about ten people would make the seating area quite crowded. Staff are quite friendly and relaxed (there is no rushing you out of here that’s for sure.)

To help you with your dessert choice the treats are on display in a glass enclosure at the counter. The largest dilemma is choosing which dish you want to deliver your sugar high. LOL. The Siam (mangoes with coconut sticky rice) caught my attention whilst the Crumble (a “healthy” combination of mango cubes, yogurt and honey with crunchy crumble layers) caught Pat’s attention. Both dishes were way too sweet though ironically our mangoes were not at all sweet. Guess I’m spoilt from the ideal of the beautiful tasting mangoes we have available in Oz! Oh, and Pat’s crumble was more crumbs … so an overly dry dish in the end.

From a pricing perspective desserts are about £5-7 which is comparable with desserts in restaurants. The portions are fairly reasonable but I suspect that dropping the price a little bit may entice more customers.

I’m not sure how long MADD is going to survive as a business (tonight there was us and two other people.) Admittedly it’s a Sunday night tonight and perhaps they get a lot more business at breakfast (they serve a selection of breakfast-inspired dishes too and shakes and all that jazz) or during the week. I do like the idea of a dessert lounge (and the Asian-styled offering such as sago and sticky rice) but perhaps expanding on just having mango as the central theme would be somewhere for the business to grow.

Dragon Palace Yum Cha

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Su Yin arranged for a yum cha catch up today with Jonny and myself. We’d set out to go to Royal China since that was conveniently located for her. Unfortunately it was getting renovated – which was news to me and also news to the large number of people who also turned up at the restaurant expecting a yum cha dining feast. Dragon Palace, only a few stations away at Earl’s Court, was a venue I’d been wanting to check out for a while. It’s owned by a friend of Craig’s and came highly recommended. Admittedly he’d gone when both friend was around and it was the regular evening menu (it was a birthday banquet) so slightly different situation to yum cha.

Firstly the pros. Very reasonably priced, fairly modern but still cosy venue, service was efficient.

Then the cons. Probably the only yum cha place I’ve ever been to which gives only three steamed prawn dumplings (rather than four!) and the service was hit and miss depending on which wait-staff you got (yes it was efficient but was it really necessary for one waitress to literally throw one of our dishes on to the table as she rushed by?)

The dim sum itself was neither memorable nor horrible. I do like the fact the venue seems to be a relative unknown and the location, when the district line is working at least, is pretty convenient for me.

Overall, the quest to find another decent yum cha place continues but I would like to come back another time, perhaps when the owner is about.

Southwood Golf with Jo, Alice and Tommy

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Jo likes to buy Groupon Deals and then round up people to take the offer up with her. In this case it was a round of golf at the Southwood Golf club. Groupon deals often sound good in theory and relatively cheap but activity type deals (like golf, zorbing, falconry etc.) are quite often in obscure locations that are not within reasonable walking distance of public transport or require a significant train journey. The Southwood Golf club offer was one of those deals but luckily Jo had arranged to borrow a car to make the journey a little easier on us.

I was quite excited to be out on the golf course. Its been way too long since I’ve been on the driving range – one of the best ways to work out any excess aggression. Heh heh.

When we arrived at the club I was expecting there to be many other people taking advantage of the groupon deal, meaning a lot of other amateur golfers like us! But there weren’t – we must have waved through at least six groups after us. Heh heh.

We started out the first hole with the intention of scoring … but it was pretty clear after everyone’s 6th or 7th shot just to get to the green that the score card was fairly redundant. Heh heh. Still, that didn’t stop each one of us having at least two spectacular and quite miraculous shots throughout the day.

We won’t mention the fact it took us nearly five hours to finish the 18 holes … 😉 A great day but many my butt is sore from all that walking! Who said that golf wasn’t proper exercise??!!

Another Day Another Casino

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Casinos really aren’t a big thing in London but if you know where to look you can certainly find them. The Empire Casino in Leicester Square is probably the most obvious and high profile one that I know about, and about six months ago I met up with the lads (James, D, Wongo, Grant) at the Palm Beach Casino near Green Park. They decided it was time for another outing so here we were.

The staff at the the front desk were much friendlier than the ones at the Palm Beach Casino and didn’t seem to get at all affected by the business of the front desk registration. Unlike the Empire Casino, they do require you to sign up and become a member.

The Grosvenor seemed very busy – but as this was my first visit I had nothing to measure it against. Surprisingly there was a large proportion of people just eating/drinking (as a percentage of those gambling.) We didn’t stay very long … long enough for D to get us all a round of drinks though when he came up trumps in roulette. In fact, he was the only one that had success tonight! Thanks D for the drink!

Quintessentially Epicure

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I got a bit excited when I first heard about the Quintessentially Epicure event. It promised the showcasing of the very best chefs in the world dropping names such as Marcus Wareing, Giorgio Locatelli, Australia’s own Brett Graham (from one of my favourite restaurants in London The Ledbury), Helen Darroze, Heinz Beck and Phil Howard … I immediately jumped on an offer (£55, normally £100!) for a standard ticket which I thought at least got me tastings from the above named chef’s restaurants. I would have liked to have splurged for the Chefs Demonstrations and Degustations but there was no way I would be able to afford the £500 price tag. Ouch.

The Quintessentially Epicure event was held at the Hurlingham Club – a private member’s club located near Putney Bridge. It was a lovely building and a pretty location for such an event. They even had peacocks running (okay strutting) around the car park. I think they were actually trying to check themselves out in the reflection of the cars …

Leading up to tonight, there had been scant information about the event so Su Yin and I didn’t really know what to expect. It turns out that rather disappointingly we didn’t get to eat from any of the named chefs! However, our entry ticket did at least give us six free “tasting” plates and a free glass of champagne:

Our Tasting Card Tamarind
Quince My Dining Room
Maze Bennett
Babbo Tattinger

Additionally, we were able to sample some other delights from such places as La Maison du Chocolat, Iberica, and most excitingly Pierre Herme who were incredibly generous with their samples – though to be fair about three of the delicious macarons was as much as we could handle!

The biggest “celeb” chef we saw was Silvena Rowe who was manning her Quince stand. Rather amusingly she had this bed/lounge thing nearby where she was often found relaxing at various stages of the night.

If I’d paid the full £100 for this event I would have felt quite ripped off, and even at £55 I felt slightly in the red … though some could argue it is comparable to the Taste London events where you pay nearly £20 entry and then on top of this pay additional for each tasting plate. Will I come back next year? I’m not convinced yet …

Budapest, Hungary

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Budapest is such a lovely destination for a long weekend. Though increasing in popularity, supposedly now numbering approximately 20 million visitors a year, from my visit this weekend I still feel it is a largely untapped tourism destination and I kinda hope it remains that way for my future visits. The locals are incredibly friendly, and not all that hard on the eye – heh heh, the architecture is lovely to behold, the green spaces are absolutely charming and let’s not forget the numerous thermal spas dotted around the city for rest, relaxation and reviving.

Weather Perfect gelati-eating weather, probably a touch too warm for those running half-marathons …
Tips Bring comfortable shoes to walk in. Though most sights are within a reasonable walking distance its probably still more than you’re used to walking on a daily basis. Its also handy to grab a travel card for when your feet do get weary to hop on the very convenient and quick metro. I love how the metro tells you exactly how long there is to the next train to the 15 seconds!
For a refreshing and delicious, non-alcoholic, drink always ask for lemonade (not 7-up or sprite, but the fresh variety.) Lemonades from different venues will differ, but each will be scrumptious in its own right.

The Experience

We were in Budapest this weekend so that Pat could run a half-marathon. He really couldn’t have picked a nicer first half-marathon! His route took him past many of the highlights of Budapest which started in the City Park (home to the Széchenyi Bath, Budapest’s largest thermal bath) and took him:
– down Andrássy Avenue (Named a World Heritage site in 2002 it is lined by beautiful mansions and townhouses)
– past the Opera House
– down to the water across the Chain bridge
– pass the Royal Palace
– across Liberty Bridge,
– past Central Market Hall, up again past the river up to Margaret Island and Paraliament
– before running through Heroes’ square again to the finish line at City Park.

The only down-side was that it was stinking hot. Reaching a maximum of 31 degrees its no wonder the water stands were “over-subscribed” which Pat reporting that it was a total massacre as everyone went for some liquid hydration. Perhaps that was why everyone was given a sponge as part of their race pack!

Don’t think it was a walk in a park for us spectators either – it was surprisingly difficult to get ahead of Pat at a few key stages of the race, and that was even with the help of the metro! Guess I should have worn my running shoes instead of my flip flops. Heh heh. Congrats to Pat who just missed the 2:00 hour mark by a couple of minutes … gives him a goal for his next race I guess!

With the race over by mid-afternoon of our first day we had just about a day and half left to explore the city.

The Highlights

Our first port of call after Pat finished his race was to grab something to eat. We hadn’t really researched any places for dining but stumbled upon Spoon Café Lounge, located just in front of the Buda Castle, on a boat! It actually worked quite well as a venue as we had the benefits of being out in the fresh open air and the river breeze. And even though technically you should have a pasta party before a big race, we proceeded to have a pasta party after as well. Spoon Café Lounge is pretty cool – their toilets, the female toilets at least, are worth a visit with vistas out on to the water! I was expecting the restaurant to be a bit of a tourist trap but I was very surprised about the quality of the food we got. Following a Hungarian tradition I started with a cold soup – an iced apricot cream soup with blackcurrants and ricotta mousse to be precise. I found this to be much more to my liking than other cold soups I’ve tried like gazpacho! It was indeed a refreshing way to start the meal. For my main I couldn’t go past the fettucini with creamy porcini mushrooms served with sautéed slices of beef tenderloin. This was incredibly rich but oh so delicious. Pat’s meal of ghoulash followed by prawns sautéed with garlic bacon served with spagettini and parmesan were reportedly pretty awesome too.

After Spoon, poor Pat, we ended taking this rather long walk that took us over the Chain Bridge to explore the Royal Palace and Castle Hill. His legs must have been dying. Yes, things are walking distance but it probably wasn’t a good thing for poor Pat’s legs to be traipsing around for nearly two and a half hours. In my defense it was a lovely afternoon for sight-seeing and we had some beautiful vistas from the top of the Castle Hill. At least we took the funicular up to the top which saved at least 20 minutes of walking 😉 And we did stop for some afternoon tea to sample some Budapest baking (as pretty as it looked it wasn’t all it cracked up to be …)

The day after the race we decided to visit the Széchenyi Bath. We were hoping to get massages too but unfortunately they were all booked out for the day. Still, the baths were pretty fun to explore. The pricing can be a bit confusing, despite being in English, but basically just pay for entry which will give you access to all areas. You can hire towels but the towels are more like sheets so I would recommend bringing your own. Flip flops aren’t particularly necessary as you’ll take them off to get in the pools anyway. There is a variety of indoor and outdoor pools (15 in total) – all at a varying temperatures. The outdoor pools have some interesting water features including a ring-fenced smaller part within one of them where you get in and it basically carries you around in a small circle (very entertaining) plus there are massage water founts (you stand under them to get a massage) and bubbling baths. Indoor and outdoor pools range in temps up to a maximum of about 38 degrees and inside you have steam rooms and saunas.

The indoor section also has a pool which is extremely cold. Moving between that one and the hot one next to it will give you a very tingly sensation. Not only are the pools warmed but they are also therapeautic so good for joints and arthritis. Drinking from the water well supposedly helps with internal issues also. To top it all off it is a beautiful venue. Plan to spend about 1.5 hours there. Although the baths are conveniently right next to the metro the park is a lovely site itself so worth a walk through, in particularly over the lovely pond which has some interesting art in the water. You can also hire a row boat for fun.

Starving after a relaxing morning at the baths, heh heh, Budapest surprised me again with its food. Mix is probably better know for being a nightclub but it also has a restaurant arm which during the week day offers an awesome, and very cheap, “business lunch” – ridiculously less than £5.00 for three courses plus mineral water! Actually, our drinks were nearly more expensive but we both had an iced coffee and lemonade each. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at the quality of the food with the kitchen supposedly being led by Nicolas Delgado, who was responsible for earning Hungary’s first Michelin star at restaurant Costes. My paprika chicken, though mild in flavour, was incredibly well cooked and tender but it was Pat’s ribs which were the real winner. Juicy, falling off the bone and perfectly flavoured. I could have had lunch all over again just to have the ribs!

Energised after lunch we took a walk to the Central Market Hall or Great Market Hall. The largest indoor market in Budapest it offers all sorts of treats from fish and pickles, to meat, pastries, candies and spicies. It also offers a good place to pick up souvenirs and grab a bite to eat. There is a very popular, probably thanks to various guidebooks, Langos stand. This is a Hungarian specialty which consists of a deep fried flat bread topped with various toppings which could be sweet (fruits, chocolate syrup, raisins etc.) or savoury. Shame we’d just had lunch!

To properly walk off lunch we decided to head over to Margaret Island, stopping at quite a few ice cream/gelati joints to cool down. By the way I finally got to indulge in the infamous rice flavoured ice cream – which I had been going on about all weekend. I was happy that we finally spotted it as Pat was starting to think I’d made it up!

Margaret Island is only a couple of kilometers long and half a kilometer wide and its quite a popular green space. We spotted some of those pedalo bikes we’d had some much fun with in Rome. To be honest I was surprised that Pat was up for it as I thought his legs would be stiff from running the day before! We weren’t let down as it proved to be equally fun and it was a good way to see the highlights of the island pretty quickly.

Last Words

Although we’d seen a fair few things around Budapest I feel like we only scratched the surface of all the sights. For example, I’d like to come back and visit Parliament. It looked very grand from the outside and I imagine the interior is equally stunning. To visit a few more of the baths on my next visit would also be pretty cool. I was so happy by the friendliness of all the locals we came across. With the exception perhaps of one lady in the baths (she was still helpful but very slow!) everyone was super helpful and friendly. I heart Budapest!

Tsuru Sushi

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I guess Tsuru Sushi is the kind of place that attracts the lunch crowd as from the time Laney and I sat down to the time we left there was probably a total of at the most three other customers next to us! Still, I hadn’t come to Tsuru Sushi for the ambience – I came as a reviewer had promised authentic Tokyo-quality tonkatsu (fried breaded pork cutlets.) I remember tonkatsu in Japan being these awesome juicy, crispy little parcels of goodness so I was very much looking forward to my meal tonight. Supposedly the curry sauce at Tsuru Sushi is also cooked for eight hours to really develop that good savoury flavour.

The service, at least, at Tsuru Sushi is truly Japanese. We were attended to very promptly and provided with some welcome wasabi peas. In fact the waitresses, non-Japanese, proved to be very conscientious of service indeed throughout the meal, for example, regularly checking if we were ready for the next course or, when Laney’s sushi was ready and the waitress was about to bring it out, the other waitress grabbed her to say no bring it out at the same time as the curry. I was very pleased with that.

Food-wise we started with some takoyaki. They weren’t too bad cold (they arrived hot but we were too busy gas-bagging to eat straight away!) so I imagine they would have been pretty good hot. Not quite up to the Osaka standards for these octopus balls but nothing to complain about.

For our mains, Laney says her sushi roll was delicious and fresh. I of course couldn’t go past the Tonkatsu Curry which I clearly had built up too much in my expectation because I was slightly disappointed! The curry sauce was tasty, though fruitier than I’m used to, and the katsu. It was alright. I would have preferred perhaps a less lean pork, fat is the vehicle for flavour after all, and a slightly thicker/heavier panko bread crumb coating.

Dessert, straight out of the freezer, was pretty cool though. Literally and figuratively – three little mochi balls (pounded sticky rice balls) with ice cream centre: green tea, sesame and vanilla.