What Restaurant did you eat at last night?
- Thread starter physichull
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Soldato
Thai Botanico, playa de las Americas, Tenerife. Outstanding food. Really impressive prawns and chicken bag starter things! Night before at some dubious looking gaff entitled Bobby's III tucked away in a corner. Fantastic curry! Trip advisor ftw! Italian tonight, can't recall the name; wife has details.
Associate
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Last week I did eat at quite a few restaurants in Macedonia and Bulgaria, pretty decent tasty food over there for hardly no money at all. Can't remember the names of the restaurants either as most of the signs were in a non-English alphabet. Definitely want to go back again though as I missed some stuff I wanted to see and eat.
Soldato
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I had an amazing meal in a shopping centre in Sofia last year. Porto Maltese I think the place was called. Food in general in Sofia was very good and very cheap.
Was at Trishna friday night, managed to nab the private dining room which isn't anything to shout about as it very dark and almost dingy in there.
The waitress who looked after us was attentive whilst able to joke with us throughout so kept it entertaining. Standout dishes were the Dahi Batata Puri, Aloo Chaat, Kerala Prawn Moilee & the Hyderabadi dal. The dessert (saffron jalebis) really split opinions amongst the group but I personally really liked it.
The waitress who looked after us was attentive whilst able to joke with us throughout so kept it entertaining. Standout dishes were the Dahi Batata Puri, Aloo Chaat, Kerala Prawn Moilee & the Hyderabadi dal. The dessert (saffron jalebis) really split opinions amongst the group but I personally really liked it.
Wouldn't argue about the food, been maybe three times, always good, but the tables are placed a bit close together, it felt like sitting in a works canteen at times, and I hate to get hassled by touts, whispering, "Taxi Sir", as you leave.
Wapping Station is maybe five minutes walk, or a black cab will pass every three or four minutes.
Soldato
Did Mani (http://manimanioca.com.br/) last night and DOM (http://domrestaurante.com.br/pt-br/home.html) the night before - Will post pics when I'm back
Associate
Went to Bella Italia last night and paid £48 for 3 main pasta dishes, 3 non alcho-holic drinks and a side of garlic pizza bread. I ate mine but my wife and daughter left most of their pasta. The carbonara was quite salty and had un-chewable gristle and my wife's main of mushroom pasta has 4 slices of mushrooms.
Luckily we got 25% off the bill.
Luckily we got 25% off the bill.
Past week:
Yautchama Soho - very impressed with the food, the table/seats were a bit weird and small. The only issue we had was the food was piping hot in the middle but pretty lukewarm on the outside. We only had an hour as were in a bit of a rush so didn't raise it. Great flavours and wide choice of options.
The Langham - Afternoon Tea: lovely experience, service was impeccable. They have a very knowledgable tea sommelier and we tried about 8 different teas. The pastries and scones were a bit dainty and it appears they are going for a 'healthy' afternoon tea. This kind of defeats the point of afternoon tea in my opinion, it's synonymous with over indulgence and not something you have every week.
Tommis Burger Joint - deeply unimpressed with all of it, unsure what the following it has is over. A smidgen above McDonalds in my opinion.
Yautchama Soho - very impressed with the food, the table/seats were a bit weird and small. The only issue we had was the food was piping hot in the middle but pretty lukewarm on the outside. We only had an hour as were in a bit of a rush so didn't raise it. Great flavours and wide choice of options.
The Langham - Afternoon Tea: lovely experience, service was impeccable. They have a very knowledgable tea sommelier and we tried about 8 different teas. The pastries and scones were a bit dainty and it appears they are going for a 'healthy' afternoon tea. This kind of defeats the point of afternoon tea in my opinion, it's synonymous with over indulgence and not something you have every week.
Tommis Burger Joint - deeply unimpressed with all of it, unsure what the following it has is over. A smidgen above McDonalds in my opinion.
Soldato
Northcote cooking lesson yesterday, had great fun and leaned a bit:
:
Kitchen shots, surprisingly quiet early doors (0900ish):
Learning from Lisa:
Mushroom puree, sweetcorn soup, and pickled girolles:
Handmade chicken dumplings for sweetcorn soup:
Lunch (hake, roasted pear):
More learning:
Lisa's tournedos:
Apple frangipan tartlets:
Took stuff away to reproduce the main at home for loved ones. Recommended. Bruno Birkbeck helped out and wants to buy some of our cider too.
:Kitchen shots, surprisingly quiet early doors (0900ish):
Learning from Lisa:
Mushroom puree, sweetcorn soup, and pickled girolles:
Handmade chicken dumplings for sweetcorn soup:
Lunch (hake, roasted pear):
More learning:
Lisa's tournedos:
Apple frangipan tartlets:
Took stuff away to reproduce the main at home for loved ones. Recommended. Bruno Birkbeck helped out and wants to buy some of our cider too.
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Looks looks like a really good day.
Soldato
She's wicked as well. Really liked her on GBM.
I'd absolutely love to do a day like that.
I'd absolutely love to do a day like that.
Soldato
Spent last week in Tuscany. We were based in Florence but did get around a bit. Here is my guide to eating in Florence.
1. Budget Eats - only one place you need to know about and that is the Mercato Centrale. The ground floor is a typical indoor market where you buy local produce from old-fashioned characters. Upstairs, though, there are farmers and chefs cooking up particular examples of their own produce. You can get Chianina (big white local cow variety) burgers, seafood platters (see below), porchetta sandwiches, simple pasta dishes, truffler's salads, local specialities (lampredotto/tripe sandwiches, ribollita/veg and bean soup), the best pizzas, etc. All dishes are less than 10 euors. It's open from 1000-0000. There are beer and wine bars too. Great food at great prices. Must see.
2. Traditional Florentine Trattorias - you know, tables v close together, red and white Gingham tablecloths, owner is a bit too chatty, etc. We tried three (the first at the recommendation of our landlady): Trattoria del Fagioli - Michelin guide place, Trattoria dei Pazzi (no WiFi, only wine), and Trattoria La Maremma. All served home-cooked style dishes (never departing from the trad order of antipasti, primi piatti, secondi piatti, and contorni) from the Tuscan classics such as Bistecca Fiorentina (a huge T-bone cooked blue), Tuscan crostini with chicken liver parfait, ravioli with ricotta and pear, gnocchi alla gorgonzola, spaghetti alle vongole (clam pasta), truffled pasta, plain grilled fish, beef in pork fat, and so on. Never more than five or six ingredients but always with simple and bold flavours. Delicious. Expect to pay 100 euros for two including wine. Highly recommended.
3. Modern fine dining - we went to two quite different places. One is recommended in the Michelin guide, the Osteria Personale, and the other with three Italy Best Food Stars. AT OP we had a five course taster with three wines at 75 euros each. The food was great but the service let everything down. We had the 2130 slot and they were rushing us along all the way. It felt like they didn't want us. Anyway, the food was quite challenging at the start with some cold dishes:
Red pepper sorbet:
Pea ice cream, smoked herring cream, apple and mint:
Scallops with friggoletto peppers, salted codfish cream and liquorice:
Spaghetti with three tomato (sun dried, confit, smoked) sauce:
Pork fillet with roasted corn cream, spring onion, olives, and coffee:
Her dessert was salted popcorn ice cream with toffee, smoked tea crumble, and darck choc ganache:
And mine, coconut foam, lime sorbet, cardamom meringue, and peanut butter:
They prolly overused the smoking of ingredients (not too strong, but too often).
The next place, Enoteca Fiorentina, was a three course taster with cheese and four wines. The service was amazing and the food sublime. Surely a contender for a michelin star. Set in a deli-come-wine shop- come restaurant.
Scallops with pea and mint puree and a bottarga (smoked and dried mullet roe) butter sauce:
Sepia pasta spiced gently with prawn and pistachio crumb:
Octopus on chick pea puree:
The cheese (all italian, though they have English, French, etc):
The wines were all organic or biodynamic and superbly matched. A bit more expenny here at 250 euros for two peeps. Must try.
4. French market - don't know if it was temporary but we enjoyed the vittels:
There you go... and I haven't mentioned the Chianti wine trip on vespas nor the truffle hunting in San Miniato.
1. Budget Eats - only one place you need to know about and that is the Mercato Centrale. The ground floor is a typical indoor market where you buy local produce from old-fashioned characters. Upstairs, though, there are farmers and chefs cooking up particular examples of their own produce. You can get Chianina (big white local cow variety) burgers, seafood platters (see below), porchetta sandwiches, simple pasta dishes, truffler's salads, local specialities (lampredotto/tripe sandwiches, ribollita/veg and bean soup), the best pizzas, etc. All dishes are less than 10 euors. It's open from 1000-0000. There are beer and wine bars too. Great food at great prices. Must see.
2. Traditional Florentine Trattorias - you know, tables v close together, red and white Gingham tablecloths, owner is a bit too chatty, etc. We tried three (the first at the recommendation of our landlady): Trattoria del Fagioli - Michelin guide place, Trattoria dei Pazzi (no WiFi, only wine), and Trattoria La Maremma. All served home-cooked style dishes (never departing from the trad order of antipasti, primi piatti, secondi piatti, and contorni) from the Tuscan classics such as Bistecca Fiorentina (a huge T-bone cooked blue), Tuscan crostini with chicken liver parfait, ravioli with ricotta and pear, gnocchi alla gorgonzola, spaghetti alle vongole (clam pasta), truffled pasta, plain grilled fish, beef in pork fat, and so on. Never more than five or six ingredients but always with simple and bold flavours. Delicious. Expect to pay 100 euros for two including wine. Highly recommended.
3. Modern fine dining - we went to two quite different places. One is recommended in the Michelin guide, the Osteria Personale, and the other with three Italy Best Food Stars. AT OP we had a five course taster with three wines at 75 euros each. The food was great but the service let everything down. We had the 2130 slot and they were rushing us along all the way. It felt like they didn't want us. Anyway, the food was quite challenging at the start with some cold dishes:
Red pepper sorbet:
Pea ice cream, smoked herring cream, apple and mint:
Scallops with friggoletto peppers, salted codfish cream and liquorice:
Spaghetti with three tomato (sun dried, confit, smoked) sauce:
Pork fillet with roasted corn cream, spring onion, olives, and coffee:
Her dessert was salted popcorn ice cream with toffee, smoked tea crumble, and darck choc ganache:
And mine, coconut foam, lime sorbet, cardamom meringue, and peanut butter:
They prolly overused the smoking of ingredients (not too strong, but too often).
The next place, Enoteca Fiorentina, was a three course taster with cheese and four wines. The service was amazing and the food sublime. Surely a contender for a michelin star. Set in a deli-come-wine shop- come restaurant.
Scallops with pea and mint puree and a bottarga (smoked and dried mullet roe) butter sauce:
Sepia pasta spiced gently with prawn and pistachio crumb:
Octopus on chick pea puree:
The cheese (all italian, though they have English, French, etc):
The wines were all organic or biodynamic and superbly matched. A bit more expenny here at 250 euros for two peeps. Must try.
4. French market - don't know if it was temporary but we enjoyed the vittels:
There you go... and I haven't mentioned the Chianti wine trip on vespas nor the truffle hunting in San Miniato.
Soldato
Funnily enough I was there the week before - only for a couple of days (also stopped off in modena and a few other places) and I'd also recommend:
Alla Vecchia Bettola - very good traditional tuscan trattoria. You could easily eat here for <€30 per person and be absolutely stuffed. Table wine ridiculously cheap as well. The oven baked pork chop is ridiculous
Osteria dell'Enoteca - Also enjoyed their wine bar down the road. Modern, smart, but reasonably priced for the quality of the dishes although closer to €40-50 per person. Had an excellent T-bone steak here and some good pasta
Soldato
- Joined
- 24 Sep 2015
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- 3,673
We're off to The Man Behind The Curtain tomorrow night.
Soldato
Went out to Tipu Sultan in Leicester last night. A new place serving Indian cuisine that opened up in April 2017 and highly rated.
By then end of the night I and my father in law both thought it was hugely overrated. The place was absolutely rammed on a Saturday night as it is a halal joint so it attracts droves of Muslim families. We had a 30min wait time before we were seated - it reminded me of Tayyabs in London for crowd/queue factor.
Lovely decor as they certainly invested heavily in the very large building they exist in. Obviously no alcohol here so they serve very nice mocktails.
There were 6 of us and was decided to share our starters and mains as we weren't sure of how large the portions were - they were small af and heavy on the food colouring. The lamb kebab felt very gristly and undercooked whilst the chicken Tikka masala mains was nice but had just 5 portions of chicken in it. Overall the meal quality/portions were no where near that of The Regency Club down in Queensbury and I felt the place was very overrated.
Pics of starters and desserts upon getting home later.
By then end of the night I and my father in law both thought it was hugely overrated. The place was absolutely rammed on a Saturday night as it is a halal joint so it attracts droves of Muslim families. We had a 30min wait time before we were seated - it reminded me of Tayyabs in London for crowd/queue factor.
Lovely decor as they certainly invested heavily in the very large building they exist in. Obviously no alcohol here so they serve very nice mocktails.
There were 6 of us and was decided to share our starters and mains as we weren't sure of how large the portions were - they were small af and heavy on the food colouring. The lamb kebab felt very gristly and undercooked whilst the chicken Tikka masala mains was nice but had just 5 portions of chicken in it. Overall the meal quality/portions were no where near that of The Regency Club down in Queensbury and I felt the place was very overrated.
Pics of starters and desserts upon getting home later.
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Soldato
Whoop whoop! Today's my birthday and the missus has booked us into The Man Behind the Curtain this Friday 