Lunch at Bistro 1, Frith Street, Soho: Bargain lunch, good food, and great place to meet.

20th October 2015
I have reviewed the Covent Garden Branch of this establishment, which has very sadly now close (end of lease the owner said). This was a favourite meeting place for me to lunch with people, because for a tenner or so, you could get a decent hot lunch, and they let you chat as long as you wanted. I know it is sometimes a disappointment when you go back to somewhere a second time, but this chain (now a solo operation) has been reliable and I will go there again.
If you book on line, at the time of writing this blog, you can either get 10%  discount or a free glass of wine with lunch. An even better bargain.
You can look at their web site on http://bistro1.co.uk/ . This tells us that 2 courses are £9.90 and three, £11.90. The style of food is stated as mediterranean, but in my opinion you have a Turkish influence, but you can get the usual favourites such as pasta.
For starter I had the Bistro (cold)meze

You can see this is generous plate of Tsatsiki, dips, hummus, falafel, kisir, dolma & cheese borek. This is accompanied by bread on the table at no extra charge and butter.

For main course I had the lamb kofte meatballs. I go in with the intention of having something else, but this is my favourite:

These were hot, scoring an 8.6 on the scale and tasty, and some chilli and garlic sauce were available.

As you can tell, I am an enthusiast for this place for lunch. I have had dinner at the other branch as has been reviewed elsewhere.

I would recommend this place. I don't know how busy it gets in the evening: they have a big downstairs area which might take up some slack, but I have never been there except for lunch.

CMV Magellan: Bargain Cruising with good restaurant food, but let down by buffet

25th September to 1st October
A bit out of sequence, but important nevertheless as we are going back there again in February next year.
CMV is a cruise line that sails out of Tilbury with moderately small (<1000) passenger numbers at bargain prices. We did a trip called 'Autumn Gardens' for a week which was a bit of misnomer as we did not see any gardens except for the cabbage fields of Normandy. It is not difficult to get a deal that costs £60-70/day per person as a couple including the cruise, all food and the entertainment. Alcoholic drink is extra, but bars sell drink at below English pub prices, and if you want, there is a drink pass deal, where you can drink yourself silly for about £35/couple per day.
Food on cruise ships is a topic of hot debate amongst customers and you cannot please all the people all the time if you have the limited resources of a smallish ship. If you go on a big one, there may be so many restaurant options that you are bound to find one that suits. But my wife and I are very flexible (apart from me and the temperature of food). I have previously reviewed the sister ship, Marco Polo, which I said was 4* food in a 3* ship. I guess I was spoiled by a relatively recent superlative experiences on Holland America and Viking, but in retrospect, the food on Magellan was very similar, but the buffet might not have been so good. I have looked at what I wrote, and it is very similar, but we did not find any special nights for international food, but there was a spectacular late night buffet which showed that they could do it if they wanted to.
There are two main served restaurants with two sittings and surprisingly the earlier sitting at 6.15 was the fuller, but I prefer to eat my evening meal later. Food in the served restaurants was good, and there was always something to find. Portions tend to be small, but by the time you have worked your way through the card, it is more than enough for most people. Buffet food was almost never sufficiently hot and sometimes looked unappetising. The CMV line attracts a lot of older less mobile clients and they seem to prefer the buffet eating. Breakfasts in the served restaurant were a bit inflexible, and took too long to come if you have any plans for an outing.
So, what did it look like?

This is almost certainly an unrepresentative view of the buffet restaurant. Typically all the sections will be used, and there will be queues. The problem with this type of UK based cruising is that it attract the elderly less mobile passengers and it is understandable that they are going to be less adept at helping themselves from buffets. There was no evidence of help being offered to less able passengers.

This is what the savoury section might look like. A bit utilitarian and no attempt to make things look attractive. At least some things were labelled.

Deserts in the buffet focussed on cake like things and fruit and ice cream. Much better off in the served restaurants. The food in the buffet was a subset of what was served in the main restaurants

So the big advantage of the buffet is treating it like a taster session and focussing on what you might like most

What you might end up with serving yoursel from the buffet: sprouts on a buffet are NEVER a good idea.

The above is an example of dinner in the main restaurant and shows the fairly extensive menu. It is not very exciting or exotic food but this is straightforward cruise grub. Not everyone likes it, and for this reason we prefer to eat on a table for two so we don't have to listen to others whining. Nothing was fantastically hot, but nothing had to be sent back on that count. Service was good, but was largely eastern European style, where most of the staff come from.

Because we were in a port most days, there was no opportunity to try a served lunch, and on some days we returned to ship so late that lunch in the buffet was almost finished. I would not recommend there burger bar for many reasons.

We are going back on this ship for a trip to the Northern Lights in the Winter, and if there is anything of note, it will be reported.

This is a picture of the 'buffet magnifique' which shows that they can do it if needed. Rather than put on this excessive show of show food, all of which was not needed as it was at 10pm shortly after dinner, I would like a bit more attention to everyday, but there you are.

UPDATE DEC 2024. THE CRUISE LINE HAS GONE BUST AS A RESULT OF COVID, AND HAS BEEN SUPERCEDED BY AMBASSADOR CRUISES, WHICH WE HAVE NOT TRIED YET.

Pandaberry, North Finchley. Authentic Caribbean, but avoid Monday Nights

26th October, 2015
I have been looking at this place for years, and at last our more adventurous friends wanted to try it: most of our friends are a bit on the cautious side when it comes to food.
The restaurant is tucked off the main road in North Finchley, opposite the Arts Depot and bus station, so you have to know about it as you won't spot it from the street.  It has rather strange opening hours, closing at 9pm on Sunday to Wednesday, but later for the rest of the week. It is also open for lunch and particularly, as they say, takeaway. They have a pretty comprehensive web presence on http://pandaberryjerk.co.uk/index.html which suggests they have a cheap lunch trade and a big restaurant menu.
The restaurant is attractive and looks as if it has been renovated recently. The counter with food is just by the entrance, and I suppose I should have paid more attention to that. Our friends had been to Jamaica, and said the menu was pretty authentic, and made some suggestions. The menu is visible on the web site.
For starter, my wife and I ordered Jerk Chicken wings and fish cakes. By 7.30 on Monday, a number of items on the menu were no long available and the nearest substitutes were suggested. So no chicken wings, but we could have jerk chicken, and there was no prawn curry

The food was all hot in temperature, scoring about an 8.9 on the CHOF scale, but contrary to other reviews, the quality left something to be desired. The fishcakes seemed to have just come out of microwave and were a bit heavy. The jerk chicken was very hot in spices and dry. One serving to our friend was reported as being pink in the middle, but mine was the opposite seemingly overcooked by any standards, possibly as the consequence of microwaves. I had my back to the cooking counter, so I might just be mistaken here, but the speed of serving suggests I was right.

For main, I ordered the ox tail with butter beans with a side of dumpling and we shared some plantain

The reason you cannot see the plantain is that it was served up well before the main course, and of course I would not let it get cold. I have to admit that my experience of Caribbean food is minimal and I have to accept the comments of other reviewers on TripAdviser that this is the genuine McCoy. To me, who has eaten plenty of Ox tail in the past in the days before BSE, this seemed to be far too fatty, and you can see that it is swimming in oil. This might be what it is supposed to be. The dumplings were a bit heavy and dry and I used them to mop up the gravy/fat. I should have accepted the offer of rice, which was said to come with every meal. Again the temperature was not an issue but it was very spicy. I had a bit of a cold on the day we went, and the spices really cleared out my tubes (but might possibly have affected the taste), but my wife reported that her goat curry was spice and not taste.

There is no wine list and you can bring your own at £2 corkage, which was a very good thing.

By the time our meal was served, which was about 7.50, the staff made it clear by actions that we were their only customers and they wanted us to go. Service was a bit haphazard with items being brought together and out of sequence. We were not offered a desert, and by 8.45, we were shown the door. I have to give them the benefit of the doubt that this might have been a Monday night effect, because there were never more than three tables occupied. I would need to come back and see what it is like at weekends when they have longer opening hours and lunchtime, where I suspect they do a takeaway trade with the ex-pats and school kids.

The reviews on other web sites do not match our experience and I am prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt that Monday night was the worst time to go. But a customer is a customer and is entitled to a consistent level of service and eating options even on a slack day, but maybe we simply do not understand how Caribbean restaurants work and maybe our expectations were too European.

Istanbul, North Finchley: Another superior end Turkish eating establishment for our area.

14th October 2015
Istanbul is the rebirth of the previously successful Meze Meze on the High Road in North Finchley. I have no idea what happened to the previous (acceptable) incarnation, but I have now eaten here twice, and have a very positive view. Slightly cosmetic Turkish food, but stylishly presented, and popular with the locals.
For your edification, there is an informative web site on http://www.istanbulfinchley.co.uk/ but on the 'about us' tab, the information is superficial information about the city and not the restaurant. I guess the thing that the two have in common is the splitting and very sensibly the ockabasi part of the restaurant where you can see the grill type cooking and the ingredients has been physically partitioned from the eating seated part of the restaurant. This is quite a positive move as many of the other local Turkish establishments, some very good, keep the front of house like a kebab takeaway which can be a bit off-putting especially on a Saturday night near pub closing times. The fare is pretty standard stuff for this style of restaurant and priced just slightly above middle of the road, but not excessively so. The interior of the restaurant is clean and modern and clearly reflects the European side of Istanbul.
For starter, we shared lambs liver, and haloumi+spicy sausage.

This seemed to have been freshly prepared and was tasty and hot scoring an 8.9 on the CHOF scale. The starter came with a basket of fresh flatbread, and there was also olives and tsatsiki on the table. Very good.

For main course I had Sarma Beyti which was grilled spicy minced lamb, red pepper, parsley and garlic wrapped in a homemade bread with special tomato sauce served with yoghourt, couscous and salad.

You might be able to tell that mine came with bulgar wheat rather than couscous, but no matter.

This looks great and tasted good, but displays a great truth about the hotness of food: if you have food served with chilled yoghourt, it is never going to be hot, and thus this scored only a 7.2 on the CHOF scale: pity because otherwise it was great, and was rather like eating a sliced up wrap. I will stick with the more predictable next time or tell them I want it really hot. You can also see my wife's stuffed aubergine, which was deemed to be good.

For desert, we shared a semolina cake and I had some Turkish Coffee which came in a very attractive cup holder with a glass of cold water and some Turkish Delights.

I am not a big fan of Turkish deserts and this semolina cake was a bit heavy for me. The coffee was good.

So, altogether, this is a good place, but with the caveat of the yoghourt. A meal for two, sharing a desert, with drinks and service came to £55.

The Olive Grove, Cambridge. Satisfactory Greek lunch in quiet surroundings

30th July 2015
A trip to visit our friends in Cambridge included a lunch stop at this recommended Greek Restaurant. It is a short walk off the main college/museum drag of Cambridge, near the town shopping centre, and is an unassuming sort of place which on the day we went, in the middle of the tourist season only had a few lunch clients. It may get busy at nights, and there are lots of reviews on TripAdvisor.
They have a web site on http://the-olivegrove.co.uk/ which explains that they have been a finalist in a food awards competition. This is very definitely Greek rather than Cypriot or Turkish and is reflected in the food and decor. When we were there, we witnessed a consignment of kitchen supplies arrive, and it confirmed that they are using imported or locally Greek produced ingredients. Who would have thought that haloumi comes in a big tin?
We decided to opt for the set two course lunch menu at £12.95. I had a look at the main menu, and think that it is a bit more expensive than I would expect to pay in a local north London Cypriot restaurant, but may be they cannot be compared. I cannot speak as to the authenticity of the cuisine, but it seemed Greek enough.
For starter I chose Tigania (spicy pork bites,onions,oregano,peppers & white wine)

This was a bit like a mini pork stew, and I would not rate it as particularly spicy, but it was tasty and hot enough scoring an 8.1 on the CHOF scale. I would guess that there is no such thing as really hot food in Greece, so that may have been a very authentic part of the experience.

For main I chose Kontosouvli 

(hand made pork neck skewer, pitta nest served with  fresh chips & tzatziki)

As you can see this is not exactly as described on the menu in that there is no pitta nest and the fresh chips were sauté potatoes and there appears to be some bulgar under the salad. It was hot enough also at about an 8 and tasted fine, but the meat was a bit fatty and gristly and not everything was edible. As you can see the portion size is adequate, but not generous. There is a lot of attention to appearance which you do not get in Cypriot restaurants typically.

The restaurant was mildly pretentious making a big thing out of being a finalist is in the food competition (but not revealing the final placing). It was the better side of ok, but I am a tough judge of this kind of food having been the victim of some mega meze's

Broughton Arms, Balterley; traditional inn serving standard pub dinners in good style.

Wednesday, 22nd July 2015
I put the day in my header, because for a mid-week local inn-turned-restaurant, this was packed with enthusiastic locals. I did not get the chance to look in at lunchtime to find out if it was more like a pub, but this was so packed with diners at tables in the evening, that there was no room for drinkers, and no where I could see where they might be hidden. So my first word of advice is if you want to go there, book a table (which being foreigners to the area, we had).
According to the web site on https://broughtonarmsatbalterley.wordpress.com/about/ (not sure why it is an https address) it is on the Cheshire/Staffordshire border near the village of Weston. There is little local competition except for a hotel conference center and another pub about two or three miles away. The web site is a little strange as the home page is the set menus for functions, but if you dig, all the information is there. I chose this place on the basis of good tripadvisor reviews, which by and large were supported by my visit.
The place looks half traditional, half country pub restaurant cliche. Whilst this is not intended to be a negative comment, it is exactly what you would expect except for the lack of locals drinking at night. Food service stops at 2100, so do not go there late.
The menu for the restaurant is shown on the web site under the heading 'bar menu', presumably because seating is in the bar, and you order your meal at the bar. Drink also comes from the bar at pub prices. The menu is pretty predictable and fairly extensive.
For starter I had the garlic mushrooms.

I am guessing based on their uniformity, that they were not hand made on the premises. Nevertheless, they were numerous, fairly tasty, hot at at CHOF of 8.2 and came with a tartare sauce.

For main course I had steak and kidney pie.

As you can see this is a big portion with chips, and could have been home made. There was probably more steak than kidney and it was a hearty meal at a superlative temperature scoring a 9.5 on the scale. There were also accompanying vegetables which are out of shot.

For desert, I shared a creme brulee

This tasted very eggy and as if it had not been prepared in a big batch for consumption over a period of time. The top had been flamed recently.

There is no pretention factor for this establishment. It appears to be very popular with the older generation of locals and is clearly the place to come. It is exactly what it says on the box, and there were absolutely no surprises. It was middle of the road pricing, and a meal for two with a small cider and glass of wine came to about £50. Things shut down early, and by about 9 the place was emptying out. This is an ideal place to come if you are at the Wychwood Park Venue and want to eat somewhere else.

Steam Bake and Grill at Wychwood Park DeVere Resort, near Crewe: surprisingly good

21st July 2015
We had booked a bargain midweek break through TravelZoo. Amazing value - £99 for two for B and B for two nights, and one three course meal. This is one of a number of resort venues more geared up to conferences and training meeting, and I can only presume they sell off their spare capacity when there is not enough conference trade. I guess July is not a big conference month to spend in Crewe. Crewe is pretty well located for the pottery attractions of Stoke on Trent, and Ironbridge museums.
The restaurant is pretty minimalist, with no table cloths, no bread and I am guessing that all the food is pre-prepared, but I could not say where. The limited menu appearance and speed of service suggests that it is not cooked to order. Nevertheless, it turned out to be the star of this venue in my opinion. I thought I was only getting a two course meal, but it turned out to be three. You can find out more at http://www.deverevenues.co.uk/en/venues/wychwood-park/food-and-drink/ . There is a sort of open plan kitchen to see where the finishing touches are put to dishes. These were clearly the cooks that the management were happy for people to see.

For starter, I had garlic prawns

The dish was served on a weird pice of fake facsimile newspaper. It was well cooked, tasty and scored a 9 on the CHOF scale. A good start.

For main, I had a steak pie with mash, which looks a bit like a self assembly kit. There is a boat of gravy. You get the idea. This again was pretty good and also an 8.5 to 9 on the CHOF scale.

For desert, I chose the mixed chocolate roulade.

A tiny bit mass produced, but good nevertheless.

All in all this was a surprisingly good meal, at a good temperature. It has a minor pretention factor based on the over attention to appearance, but the surroundings and service negated that. We ordered a bottle of wine, but were provided with something other than what we ordered, and were told that this was what they decided to serve instead. I guess the customer is not always right. I gather that the rack rate for this meal without drink and service is £25/head. This is probably a bit overpriced for a TDH meal, but was a good deal as part of our package.