Durum Ocakbasi Restaurant: A high spot for Finchley

13th July 2013
There are many Turkish Restaurants in North London, now seeming to outnumber the Cypriot kebab houses.
Whilst much of the trade of the Durum is take away, they have an excellent sit-down restaurant, which I booked on the same day for Saturday. I have eaten there several times before, and forgot to take my camera on this visit. However, the somewhat bizarre collection of pictures on their web site http://www.durumrestaurant.co.uk/websites/123reg/LinuxPackage25/du/ru/mr/durumrestaurant.co.uk/public_html/en/ tell no lies, but would have benefited by showing some served food (may be next time)
The restaurant is a little cramped and has a variable throughput. We arrived at 7.45, and it was pretty full. An hour later on a Saturday night, it was quieter, and they were laying up for the next customers. However, we have seen it packed. It had been 30C outside that day, and the papers said it was the biggest barbecue night of the year.
The trick here is not to over order, which is very easy. We shared a cold meze between two, which has a variety of dips including humous, babaganouche, tarama, and others that we could not identify. It was attractively served, was enough for two, and came with a plate of two different types of flat-bread.
For main, we had a chicken shish and an ezmeli kebab. These come served with bread and some salad. You can add rice or chips or whatever as an extra. We resisted the lamb testicles, which surprisingly are not mentioned on the on-line menu. The food was hot (CHOF of 8.8), excellent quality and highly tasty. A dish of garlic and a dish of chili sauce are offered. I seem to remember that in the past, these things came with the rice and a dish of olives, but times are hard.
You don't need to order desert, as a melon plate is offered as part of the deal. We drank a glass of Efes beer. We did not see the bottle, but we could see Efes cases out the back when we parked up, so it probably was. The waiting staff were efficient and helpful and smartly dressed. The whole meal for two including beer but no coffee came to just over £38, and we felt as if we had a good experience. Next time I will take a camera, as the food is attractive in a way that kebab shops are not.

Royal Park Hotel, Lancaster Gate: I hope I don't have to go back there

24th June 2013 (slightly out of sequence, but inserted for the sake of completeness and interest)
I was participating in a media bash again. The Royal Park Hotel describes itself as a boutique hotel out of the center of  London, and is a stone's throw from Lancaster Gate underground station. The name is a bit of wishful thinking as it is near a Royal Park, and looks somewhat mundane from the exterior (although there is a smart concierge person) Web site is http://www.theroyalpark.com/the-hotel  For a night with B and B in mid October, you can expect to pay about £250.
It has one function room as far as I can see. Dinner, once again was served buffet style, but I think someone had forgotten to light the burners in the serving baine maries.

It was grim, and the food was served cold and under- cooked. Salmon was just about eatable and the beef was awful. There is rare and rare, and this was rare and cold. No better than a 4.9 on the CHOF scale. I hope I do not have to go back there again.

Intercontinental on Park Lane, London. A good effort for a corporate bash

27th June 2013
I was invited to an annual dinner for a trade organisation at the Intercontinental, having been a speaker at their meeting. Their lunch had been a bit of a CHOF disaster, again underpinning the problems of serving hot buffet food, and the fact that apart from me, no one seems to care
Hotel ballroom dinners can be a hit or miss affair. Before our food was served, a member of staff came over and asked if there were any particular dietary requirements. He was probably expecting comments about vegetarianism and peanut allergy, and my comment indicating that I wanted hot food to be served hot evoked the response that they would be trying their best to serve food quickly. In fact, one of the best things about the service was the fact that waiting staff operated in teams to ensure that all seated at a table received their meals simultaneously.This seemed to work well, and I commend their management for at least solving the problem of having to wait until the last person on a table is served.
The meal started with a marjoram marinated plum tomato (?) with a mozzarella fritter and baby gem Caesar.

Had I not been told, I would probably not have guessed. Anyway the fritter was about a 7.9 on the CHOF scale.
The main course was 'Rosemary marinated (lot of marinating going on at the Intercontinental) lamb rump on summer pea puree with pink fir potatoes, pearl onions, baby carrots and soft herb jus (good try just for imaginative menu).

This lived up to the description, and the express service method ensured that the plate scored just about an 8 on the CHOF scale. I thought this was a very good effort for a corporate dinner, and most people engaged well with the food.

Desert was a mango and lime mousse with a coriander shoot (not marinade this time) jelly, raspberry and chilli ice cream and cashew nut biscotti.

A lot of words for not a lot on the plate. Nice enough, but the jelly was a bit viscid.

All in all a good effort from the hotel for a meal with imagination, decent ingredients, adequately cooked and quickly served. I will remember them if I need a similar venue.

Kings Head, Bexley: Pub Grub

25th June
I quite regularly meet ex work colleagues, and sometimes those that still work with me at the King's Head pub in Bexley Village on the high street. On a Friday it is packed with pay-packet drinkers, but early on in the week, it can be a pleasant place for lunch. I have eaten there many times over the years and my favourite lunch there is their smoked salmon salad. Not hot obviously, but a treat.

Its a generous mixture of smoked salmon, cole slaw, hot boiled new potatoes and salad. It was £6.50 last year, but this year has gone up to £7.50, which, whilst not as much of a bargain, is still a very fair price for the quality plate that it is. Comparable with other pubs in the area. I will definitely be going there again, as I have not found anywhere else in the area that matches it. Other food is also available including typical hot pub lunch dishes. Recommended, but not on a Friday lunchtime.

Penha Longa resort, Silves, Portugal: unreal luxury hotel with little hot food

12-15th June.
A little out of sequence, but could not be ignored. A company decision to use this as a conference venue hotel left me with no convenient access to the conference centre in Lisbon, but staying at a hotel which made up for that inconvenience. I have reviewed the hotel on TripAdvisor, but here is some of the food.
The high spot was breakfast. Suffering from the usual hotel disease of lack of attention to detail about the temperature of the buffet, it was compensated for by the variety and quality of other items:

It was worth getting up for, and if you get there about 0700, you avoid the rush. We had dinner once in their Italian restaurant, which doubles up as the breakfast restaurant. A small and somewhat unimpressive menu

I had no alternative but to take this with flash. It shows an artistic rack of lamb. Not much meat, but very pretty. Shame about the 7 on the CHOF scale, but the taste and quality were excellent.

I was very sorry to leave this hotel, as it was extremely peaceful and comfortable, but I wish they could realise that their mainly British clientele like hot food to be hot. It is not really part of the 'abroad' experience that one is looking for.

El Rancho De Lalo: Worth crossing the river for.

22 June 2013
It's got no web site, no toilets and only takes cash, but it is packed on a Saturday (closes at 6). So why is this so popular, as you have to really try to squeeze in? Because it seems to be an opportunity to eat good food in the presence of ex-pats who look as if they know what they are doing.
I first came across El Rancho some weeks ago when I was taking pictures in Brixton, and I thought it would be a good idea for a family outing. It does not open on Sunday, so we found a common ground Saturday. After booking, my daughter was told that we should be there promptly, with the caveat that we were expected to move on (we had a table for 6.5), but on the appointed time, our table was there, which was just as well, as it was packed at one pm on a Saturday.
The food is Colombian in style, and there is a good choice on the menu. Some dishes are only served on Saturday, which I guess is their big day.

It is not a pretty place, it is very cramped, cafe like, an tables spill out onto the thoroughfare of Brixton Village market, but they are all like that in the market.

I ordered a starter, but was told that actually we would be better sharing one starter between 4, as the main dishes were big. We had the beef and potato empanada at £1.30 each. These would have been excellent if they had not been cold in the middle (0 on the CHOF scale) although they were hot on the outside. I can only assume they had come out of a refrigerator/freezer, and had not been properly cooked through.

However, in retrospect, because the main courses were so good, I am prepared to get over it, and suggest that anyone who goes there should forget the starters, as the main plates are simply so generous, you don't need a starter.

For main course, three of us had Bandeja Paisa, which we were informed on the menu is a Colombian national dish with grilled beef steak, fried pork belly, Colombian pork sausage with fried egg, ripe plantain and corn bread. And that was exactly true, accompanied by salad rice and beans.

This was hot, mainly freshly cooked, a huge amount and different and tasty and also scored an 8 on the CHOF scale.This plateful was priced at £10. I rated this very highly, and looking at what the other diners were eating, I will definitely be trying to go back there again. It really was something different.Pity it is not in North London, but there appears to be a pocket of Colombian cuisine in Stockwell/Brixton. They have the Colombian and Portuguese, and we have the Greek/Turkish and Persian.

Federation coffee: strong stuff for the urban spoons of Brixton

22nd June
Brixton Market is many things: it is a source of local style food and clothes for local people, a place for tourists to gawp, and a place to sit and be part of the local furniture with designer artisan drink and food.
There are loads of places to eat and drink, and they start getting busy around noon. I just needed a cup of coffee before going to lunch (see subsequent entry), and this was a random choice:

Not much to see, but a good strong cup of Americano with hot milk. They get so busy that you have to queue to order, and then wait for the coffee to be delivered. Finding somewhere to sit can be tricky.There is home spun snacking food as well, but as I was waiting for lunch I resisted. The guy before me in the queue spent almost £20 on coffee and snacks for three, so it is slightly above average in cost, and the cost for the cup of coffee above was £2.20 which is about average for London at the moment. I wonder what their margins are?

The coffee was robust/strong and was not like some of the mass chains. I think this is a good one. Good and hot too.

They have a fairly non-informative web site on www.federationcoffee.com . Unlike some of the restaurants, they are open on Sunday.