Shortcut to a fungal infection?

That bit behind Virgin

Reading Jay Rayner's restaurant review just now I saw the bit below. Now I think Jay lives in one of the leafy streets near Clapham common* so may be doesn't get out to rougher bits of town but I think he may need to take more water with his sake as his description of Hanway st makes it sound like "last exit to Brooklyn" rather than a slightly down at heel short cut with a wonderful "tapas" bar and an excellent record shop (JB's) anyway here's his description of that bit behind virgin!

"A simple wish list, then, which narrowed it down a bit, particularly in London. The restaurant I wanted, I was told by knowledgeable friends, was Kikuchi in Hanway Street just off Tottenham Court Road - the sort of dank, hidden alley that TS Eliot might have been thinking of when he wrote in The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock of "certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats of restless nights..." Hanway Street is the kind of place you go for a quiet nervous breakdown, to contract a notifiable disease or, as it turns out, for very good sushi."

Here's a bit of history of the place including a bit about the first man in london to use an umbrella!

* Update: see comments for JR postcode clarification!

When the roses bloom again..

Out and about in London’s brilliant parade:
Met up with MJ “who’s a man you don’t meet every day” and amongst many things we discussed, the acoustics of Winchester Cathedral, the best place to find snakes head fritillaries, Will Self’s choice of sushi, conversation turned as it does with people of taste and distinction to blue grass music.
Sadly this may not be good as fiddles played on the backs of pickups in the Tennessee woods and any blue grass only grows through the cracks in the side walk but why not try some Laura Cantrell (that’s her on the right next to Barnsley finest Kate Rusby! )

Her website is particularly generous with a range of stuff to download. Why not try “not the trembling kind”, or may be some tracks recorded at Peel acres. Here 3rd albums there to stream for free. I sure I’m not the only one looking forward to her covers of Transport songs including Bacharach-David, Merle Haggard and Love Vigilante etc out next week.

So the answer as it normally is make sure you choose the finest freshest cuts, a hint if wasabi never goes to waste and much like the tuna belly you won’t believe you don’t do it more often.

B'day update

As usual I thought my b'day was going to go like this

But it turned into this.

Amongst lots of other excellent presents I got this which had this recipe in it, the perfect hangover cure after going here (which is excellent BTW) and having too much of this .

Thanx to everyone as usual you have saved me from turning into Cartman or is it Kyle.

Cheers.

yours c

Grilling time...

A nice spot of lunch:

We've moved to a new office just off Leather lane, so lunch time is a bit less celebtastic compared to Oxford st but the foods is 10 times better. Sadly, many of people still go to chain food outlets Pret Macdonalds Manger, Subway and even good old Greggs.

But there are stacks of other local run places, one fave is Brothers Cafe which is a Turkish run place at the north end of leather lane. Brother's is a straightforwardly good place to eat, sarnies, breakfast, Lahmacun and fresh grilled kebabs delish.Friendly staff too.

Why not get a pound of coxs on the way back to your desk.

I think the picture sums up London's continuing evolution as the most mixed up culinary place going.

Visit yogurtland to make your own Turkish treats

Where NOT to eat in the midlands!

Peninsular Cantonese Restaurant
1, Coleshill St, Fazeley, Tamworth, Staffordshire B78 3RB

(I normally try to say positive stuff but on this occasion I just thought to show how strange food was in small towns would be interesting)

Much as I said about garden design last time Britain’s culinary revolution is patchy, if you got to borough market , eat sushi, have a good local Vietnamese and Turkish restaurants you can be lulled into thinking these sort of things are common everywhere but you’d be wrong.

On our 3 men in boat odyssey to Burton on Trent last week we stopped on Sunday evening at Fazeley Junction near Tamworth. We moor up and struck out for some food, hoping to get blokey “things with chips” you know “a high scampi count”, a roast or who knows maybe even some gammon!

Al Pacino ate here?
But as usual in the first pub we went into they look at us funny “you want to eat on Sunday evening?”
So we strolled further into town. Of course the chippy was shut, so we where left to a selection of ethnic restaurants. Sadly the most promising was a Bangladeshi canteen place but they only did take away, the other “India” restaurant had swapped flock wall paper and chintz for “nowtro” modern which just made it look like a motorway service station. The other 2 places where “interesting”, one was a brightly lit place called “squiggle KUDOS”. On closer inspection the squiggle was “signature”. This was a very strange place looking like a cross between an 80’s wine bar and Middlesborough barbers.
Inside along the walls were mirrors and large Athena prints (mainly famous Italian Americans, the god father, Sinatra , Rocky etc), a mirrored bar had bored looking patrons sat along it on zebra skin covered poufs!
It turned out it was a French/Italian/Indian fusion restaurant, RUN FOR your LIVES! I imagine it’s for couples who can’t decide where to eat so can have a margarita pizza and a tandoori at the same place, please god don’t let them serve coq au tikka, vongole y dhal or Bombay duck Lasagne!

Deep fried Salt
The last option which at the time looked the least terrible was a large Chinese place, complete with the usual fountain, sculptures, pictures of willow trees and temples you know a Chinese restaurant. Unfortunately we didn’t look at the menu well enough.
As a crummy slightly down at heel “town” not far from Tamworth had restaurant that had prices to out stripping Central London. The usual Chinese dishes where averaging around £9 each. To add to this they did the slimy trick of charging almost £2 for rice. So at £11-12 quid for a main course we could eat at the Ivy. Of course if the food was good it wouldn’t matter but the food is rubbish.

The starters
Deep fried something in an iceberg lettuce “bowl”
3 boiled frozen prawns in salty gravy with random side salad
Oh and my spare ribs which came 20 minutes late.
Out of the three the ribs were ok

The main courses
Mr G made the beginners mistake of having any Chinese dish named after a place. This usually means a random collection of meat and veg covered in a salty over sweet jam like sauce. And so it was Duck “Shanghai” came with “MSG laden apricot” jam with acrid hot bits of chilli in it.



BLBW had a “sea food hot pot” which could have been good if we where in a Japanese or Korean restaurant. But came from that form of cooking where the container is more important than the food (see also most Baltis, happy meals and of course cuppa soups!). So instead of delicate sea food in a light broth it was rubbery seafood in salty thick sauce in a mini brass spittoon!

I thought I’d been canny and ordered beef with garlic and ginger, simple not much could go wrong. Sad deluded fool am I, it came on one of those “sizzling skillets” so I got stewing steak in salty over thick snotty gravy boiling at the edge, lukewarm in the middle.

So, on the whole pretty grim, we ate really badly for the thick end of £50 quid.

Also the owner didn’t help as he stood near by complaining to a regular loudly about how excessive environmental health standards stopped him doing business!

So if you break down, get lost etc don’t whatever do not eat at the Peninsular it sells overpriced rubbish.


WHERE to DRINK in FAZELEY ?
We did find a good pub the “3 tuns” round the corner selling excellent Bass on draught so the night was entirely spoiled.

You will see as usual we never got eat any local food in Staffordshire/Warwickshire no faggots or oat cakes, any cheese we had we bought ourselves. I’m all for food from anywhere but local stuff as well please.

37 reviews of Cuppa soup anybody?

Am I being harse what's the worst place you've eaten out at recently?