Surf and sty
Posted: February 19, 2012 Filed under: Eating out, Food, Friends, London life, Weirdness 2 Comments »I met my friend Mathschick on Friday and we went to Chinatown for a meal.
I wasn’t tempted by the “Octopus with Assorted Pig Organ” on the menu, my filthy mind immediately imagining some form of genitalia.
I am hoping/assuming it was a bad translation, of course. Most likely the organs were liver or kidneys or something.
Even so, seems like a like strange combination to me …
We opted for the much less risqué set meal for two (crispy duck etc.), and very nice it was, too.
V for Not Vegetarian
Posted: November 14, 2009 Filed under: Eating out, Food, Friends 2 Comments »Last night, I ate at My Old Dutch Pancake House in Holborn with K., S. and A.
K., A. and I ordered three meaty pancakes to split and share; S. is vegetarian and ordered some kaasballen (deep fried cheese balls), which were marked with a (V).
After she’d taken our order, the waitress said, “Just to let you know, the kaasballen are fried in the same oil as some of our meat dishes”.
S. queried why, in that case, there was a vegetarian (V) symbol next to kaasballen in the menu. The waitress explained that this was because the dish was … wait for it … ”vegetarian”.
A discussion then ensued along the lines of the following:
Us: Why are the cheese balls labelled as being vegetarian when they’re not?
Waitress: The cheese balls themselves are vegetarian. It’s just that they have been cooked with meat products.
Us: Well, they’re not vegetarian then, are they?
Waitress: [Completely missing the point]. Yes, they are.
Us: No, they’re not
etc etc….
What the fuck?! Surely that’s like making a lamb and vegetable stew and calling that vegetarian because it contains carrots.
S. didn’t have the non-vegetarian cheese balls. She had to make do with some soup instead, which was supposedly vegetarian … although who knows? I don’t think it was very nice, either, as she left half of it.
Later in the evening, we decided to order some coffees, only to be told that we couldn’t have any hot drinks because the restaurant had “run out of hot water” !?! Not quite sure how that works – don’t they know how to boil a kettle?! Maybe they order in their water ready-boiled or something.
I’m ranting and moaning as usual, but I actually had a very nice evening. I hadn’t seen K. and A. for a while. And S. is my Sri Lankan friend who returned home a while ago and who is now back in the UK for several months. It was great to catch up.
Overall, the restaurant gets 6.5/ 10. The pancakes were rather yummy, and reasonably priced. And they have giant clogs that you can play in and take silly photos of at the entrance. Not brilliant for coffee drinking vegetarians, though.
Caribbean Scene
Posted: May 2, 2009 Filed under: Eating out, Food, Stratford 5 Comments »If you’re ever in Stratford and feeling peckish, make sure you steer clear of Caribbean Scene.
K., Sh. and I went there on Tuesday evening before going to see “East End Tales” at the Picture House (part of the East End Film Festival).
I had read a review of the restaurant on-line earlier in the day(1/5 stars), but we foolishly decided to give it a go anyway.
First impressions were good (or should I say deceiving?): the restaurant was spacious and attractively decorated – mock beach huts, a large fish tank, and reggae music playing in the background.
Unfortunately, the food turned out to be over-priced rubbish, and the customer service was pretty shoddy.
I initially ordered a spicy beef burger with plantain, but was then told they had run out of both, so I opted for jerk chicken instead. Sh. plumped for a veggie burger, whilst K., who had already eaten, went for an “Emerald City” cocktail.
I’ve eaten jerk chicken several times before, and each time it’s been delicious. Caribbean Scene’s take on the dish, however, was nothing short of revolting: a large plate of bitter, vomit-inducing sauce, with a single piece of stringy, over-cooked chicken plonked in the middle. No sign of any marinating here. The chicken didn’t come with anything, so I’d ordered a bowl of rice and peas to go with it. The rice was dry and tasteless; the beans (peas) were mushy and few and far between. I wish I’d taken a photo, so you could share in the horror.
Sh.’s meal was equally disappointing:
A tiny, bland burger, with a sad-looking piece of lettuce shoved into the bun, and nothing else. No side salad or attempt to improve presentation. Cost = £6.50. Sh. had also ordered a particular type of fruit juice, only to be told that it was unavailable.
K.’s cocktail should have been the restaurant’s saving grace (how can you get a cocktail wrong?), but unfortunately, it wasn’t. Her blue Curaçao/ vodka/ melon liquor/ lime juice drink, served with an ungainly slice of lemon, was average-tasting and overpriced – it actually cost the same as Sh.’s meal!
When we came to pay, we told the waiter how disappointed we were. He first questioned whether we had ever eaten Caribbean food before (implying that we didn’t know what to expect and that was why we were disappointed!), but then admitted that lots of people had been complaining. He asked whether we’d like to speak to the manger, and we said we would. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to tell the manager our views as he was “too busy” to speak to us.
We paid (no tip, natch) and left, and won’t be going back again.
I actually think that 1/5 stars is rather generous!
