Great Nepalese, Eversholt Street: never disappoints

18th December
An old school friend came for to hang out with me in London, and the Great Nepalese was somewhere where we knew we could get an early evening meal before his train home. The restaurant is just by the side of Euston Station, which the web site at http://www.great-nepalese.co.uk/index.html somewhat amusingly calls an exotic location. We learn that the restaurant has been there since 1982, but I thought it had been there for ever (unbelievably I used to drive this way to work in the late 1970's to get to Wandsworth). It is old fashioned in many ways, and its website says that it is online by virtue of having a telephone number.
Being a week away from Christmas, London restaurants are busy, and typically taking advantage of customers' good will and desire to have a night out at any cost. This place chunks along, and they made no fuss about our coming early and said as long as we were gone by 7.30, we could take as long as we wanted.
I decided to play safe, and had my favoured starter of sheek kebab. I could have had a special Nepalese starter, but conservatism got the better of me.

Nothing extraordinary either way with this: predictable, and a CHOF of 8

Again I decided against adventure and stuck to tandoori tikka masala with some pulau rice for main

As you can see, no surprises here, but hot at a CHOF of 9, and living up to expectation. The staff are friendly but not interfering, and were clearly steeling themselves for the Xmas onslaught.

I would recommend this establishment for a fairly priced Nepalese curry option, which has never disappointed over the years. I will be returning.

Cambridge Chop House, Kings Parade, Cambridge. More for locals than tourists

17th December
Despite its location bang slap opposite Kings College, the Chop House seemed to be more full of locals than the many tourists thronging the streets. This might not be typical, as the downstairs was packed with what looked like office Xmas lunch outings, but no paper hats in sight. It is probably a bit too pricey for the day trippers, and probably eats too much into college viewing time. It was the choice of our friends and came with their endorsement.
There is a high quality set lunch at two course for £13.50 and three for £17.50. This is a bit on the dear side, and may have put off the trippers. In central London, but not necessarily of the same quality, lunch for under a tenner is the norm.
There is a useful web site, and the full menu can be seen at http://www.cambscuisine.com/menus/lunch-menu-1384533434.pdf .
I had the Game & Pistachio Terrine, Apple & Chestnut Chutney, Crispbread for starter.

As you can see this was all meat, and a decent portion size. The chutney was a little too subtle, but with a strong gamey taste, this hit the spot.
For main course I had Pan-Fried Calf’s Liver, Baby Potatoes, Red Cabbage, Port Sauce.

I asked the waiter how the liver was cooked, and he said it would be pink in the middle. It was a bit past pink, but still very acceptable. I would give this a CHOF score of 8.7, and it was otherwise well presented, with a rich sauce, tasty potatoes and sweet red cabbage.

I shared a desert: ordering a chocolate and passion fruit pot that was a rich mousse which overcame the fruit.

It was rich, heavy and a good strong chocolate flavour which met with mutual approval. I think that I could probably not have managed one on my own

you can just about see the reflection of Kings college and King Henry adjusting his clothing.

The verdict on this is excellent hot food, but at London prices. The wine list shows that they are catering to the classes that worry about those things with almost nothing under £20/bottle, and most between £20-30 per bottle. They must have done their market research well, I am sure.

Chopstix Exchange: Change from a fiver

11th December 2013
There used to be a number of Chinese buffet restaurants with this tag. My favourite was in the Japanese shopping plaza in Colindale, but that is long gone despite its apparent popularity when the plaza was bulldozed. There was also one in Whetstone which was not as good. The one in Whetstone has been resurrected in slightly downmarket North Finchley almost opposite the bus terminus

We are trying out the cheaper end of restaurants In North Finchley, and like other reviewers had previously been patrons of the one in Whetstone, and the original one in the Japanese plaza in Colindale.

If you have a need for cheap food out your domicile and are not too fussy, then this is the place to fill your face with calories. There is the opportunity to eat all you can with no apparent restrictions except they would like you to keep the same plate.

Satay chicken, prawn toast (mainly toast) and spring rolls

sweet and sour chicken and rather dried out pork ribs

More fresh satay chicken, mixed noodle, mushroom with onion

There are several catches: replenishment of the tureens is too slow and they are left deplete for long periods, and apart from chicken, the only meat available on the night we went was rather dried out pork spare ribs. You have to be prepared to jump when one of the containers is replenished which was not very often.The chips were quite good. Drink was reasonable, paying £3.20 for a large beer, and £1.80 for a small. There is a desert of ice-cream and tinned fruit.  There is no service charge as you help yourself. So a meal for two including beer came to £15 which is very cheap.

I thought the variety and quality was below average, and the temperature except for freshly delivered food was inadequate (probably about 6.8 on the CHOF scale, but the fresh food was 8.9). I do not feel ripped off, but I will not go there again. For £22 I can get a huge quantity of better quality takeaway food at the Totteridge garden which is enough for four helpings. The only advantage is eating out in a restaurant with an indifferent atmosphere (people are there because they want a cheap meal out and the price is difficult to beat), and no washing up. It closes at 2100, so you have to be sharp.

Friendly Thai (again): could this be the worst service in North London?

7th December.

SINCE THIS WRITING THIS REVIEW, THE FRIENDLY THAI HAS NOW CLOSED. THE REASON FOR CLOSURE IS NOT KNOWN
I have previously written about the Friendly Thai restaurant on Whetstone High Road. I commended the food but did not care for the service http://worldofeating.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=friendly+thai
We went there again as part of a group of 7. To make things easy we ordered one of their set meals for 3 and a set meal for 4. This could not have been simpler as the three were sat together as were the four.
What ensued was some great food as referenced in the previous note, but the service on a Saturday night is appalling. They simply cannot cope with their own success, and should consider extra staff on Saturday night when it is always full. I would guess it took about an hour from time of entry to restaurant to appearance of the first item of starter. When the order got mixed up i.e. some of the three going to the four and vice versa, they tried to blame us initially, and when we stood our ground, a heated argument, presumably in Thai, ensued between two staff members, and conducted across our table. This is a great shame as the food is great and is also hot.
When the bill arrived, it was largely uninterpretable but priced within credibility, and already had 10% added for service which I proposed was taken off. My wife pointed out that we probably would go back there again (but not on a Saturday night) and refusing to offer a tip was restaurant suicide,  but we should never had booked in the first place on a Saturday night.

Harvester, Arnos Grove: Formula food that meets expectations.

3rd December.
We had passed the Harvester just by Arnos Grove tube station so many times over the past couple of decades and always noted that there was the potential of a bargain meal out. Nothing fancy, but very fairly priced. The one we had previously patronised some twenty years ago is now a Tesco mini store, and had been somewhere we could reliably visit with children and escape with our wallets intact, and a fair feed.
I learn that Harvester is part of a crop of restaurants and pubs run by Mitchells and Butlers and includes diverse names such as Toby inns, All bar One and Browns. My take on Harvester is that it is a restaurant in a pub type venue rather than a pub with restaurant (which is how I see JD Wetherspoons) and according to their web site, they specialise in grilled food and serve 25 million meals each year. The USP for Harvester is that they have the free salad bar, and fixed price formula meals. By way of Internet vouchers, we were entitled to one free starter from a limited list or a free Sundae (which was really mostly ice cream), and a voucher for unlimited soft carbonated drink from a limited list. Other drinks are at Bar Prices.
For our starter we had spicy breaded crackerjack king prawns

We'd actually eaten most of them by the time this picture was taken, but they are a crispy fried coated prawn, not particularly spicy by our standards, but hot and tasty scoring a 7.8 on the CHOF scale. The dip is chilli, ginger and spring onion, but is not overwhelming. All meals have the calorific values stated, and this was 322 kcals (accurately presented)

For main I had an 'original combo'.

This is chicken, which is under a baby rack of pork ribs, a portion of sweetcorn and fries, coming in at 1097kcals (scary). There was also the salad cart (nothing special), rolls and butter etc included. The ribs were probably the best bit of the meal being moist, tender, well cooked and flavoured. The chicken was spit roast rather than grilled, and was properly cooked. The corn was fine, but was too cold to melt any butter.

Whilst you can see the cooks at work, I did not pay attention to the assembly of this meal, and its components had different CHOF valuse from 7.5 (corn) to 8.8 (chicken and chips). There was also a barbecue sauce, which I did not use. My wife's chicken was also cooked well, and had no adverse comments. 

The bill could not really be worked out because of the vouchers, but would probably come to about £12 without drinks per person. 

I think the Wetherspoons offering is probably a bit more edgey with a greater choice and cheaper, but here you are sat down in a proper restaurant and served (Rather than having to pick up from the bar), you don't have to pay up front, and it has a family restaurant feeling rather than a pub feeling. Take your choice for the bargain of your choice.

We felt that we had had a very competitively priced meal of good quality. With that many meals served in the whole group, I dare say that Mitchells and Butlers have figured out how to make their formula work.

Natural Kitchen, New Street Square, City: Why we need to pay bankers so much

3rd December.
A work colleague who I had not seen for some time invited me for lunch, and this was his suggestion based on suggestions received. I knew from other reports, that the most common adjective used to describe the food at Natural Kitchen was 'OK'. The company has an informative web site at http://www.thenaturalkitchen.com/cafe-restaurant.php and a glance down the menus shows that this is not for the masses and threatens style over substance. Don't get me wrong, because I was a grateful lunch guest, and I don't bite the hand that feeds me, but if I had not been a guest I would have been agreeing more vocally with the previously read comments.Most of the trade seems to come with the carry out buyers for those eating 'al desko'. No shortage of customers in suits.

To keep things simple I had the 'aged Scottish steak beefburger, which came with melted vintage cheddar, caramelised red onions, baby gem lettuce, vine ripened tomatoes and crunchy coleslaw (sic) and chips (£15.95)

The menu apologized that it only served burgers medium to well done, but it seemed that the chef had not been told this, and mine was distinctly underdone, and only warranted a 6 on the CHOF scale. However, it was perfectly tasty and seemed to be all meat. The fries were hot and tasty - no other condiments were needed. For the price, this was below expectation, and I hope that if my host ever reads this, he does not take offence as he is a friend of long standing who I would not like to criticise for his choice of venue.

In summary, more style than substance, luke-warm food and a potentially big bill. 

Durum Ockabasi, Finchley: reliable Anatolian grub

23 November 2013
The Durum has been one of my local staples for several years. It used to be an Italian called Trattoria Trevi, but that was probably 20 years ago, and this place has been a popular feeding house for the locals of Finchley and ex pats for several years. It has a lot of competition in the area, but always seems busy.
They have a web site at http://www.durumrestaurant.co.uk/websites/123reg/LinuxPackage25/du/ru/mr/durumrestaurant.co.uk/public_html/en/ which tells you quite a lot, but the prices are a bit out of date. I usually book before going, as it seems that it times there are few tables left. Having said that, I have never had trouble getting in. The staff are pleasant and service is fairly efficient. Each table is given a plate of really tasty flat bread, and I am sure that over the years there may have been olives and chilies but, like most restaurants, the covers have become more sparse. We typically start with a cold meze between two. The starter portions can be quite substantial, and we have made the mistake of ordering too much food in the past.
On this occasion I had the beyti with yogurt sauce. Yogurt sauces are a common feature, and sometimes they are flavoured or spiced, and sometimes meat is cooked in them. Beyti is like a spiced version of kofte kebab.

As you can see it is meat on a flatbread base with yogurt, and really does not need any additional accompaniment. The thing was that the hotness of the meat was dumbed down by the coldness of the yogurt, and thus lost a little bit in CHOF score which otherwise would have been good. I should have thought about this before ordering, and my wife's chicken shish was excellently hot. The food is great and I will definitely be going back. A meal for two including drink, and sharing a starter comes to about £30.

Wetherspoons at the Tally Ho!, North Finchley: good food but uneven service

12th November
For a change we wanted to try out a local cheap pub restaurant. I have reviewed J D Wetherspoon before, and as the menus are national, I had not intended to mention it again.
However, on this occasion, I scaled back from the large mixed grill to the normal size one (good idea). What was not good was the fact that it took one hour from placing our order for it to arrive, and it was of mixed hotness (7.6-8.5). There was some weak excuse about the chef having cut his finger. However other diners did not experience the delay we suffered. The staff said that we should have shouted for the main course once we had finished the starter.
This was actually a great shame, as the food was great, and was very competitively priced for the quality. I would like to try it again, but next time, I will be very clear to the staff about the fact that normally it is expected that if stater and main course are ordered, it is a reasonable expectation for one to follow the other in fairly quick order. As you have to pay up front, there was little that could be done. Although there was a trace of apology (mainly trying to tell us it was our own fault for not coming and asking for the food to be served) there was not even an offer of a compensatory sundae. There is an argument for not going back there again, but I am not one to cut my nose off to spite my face.

Le Querce: Sardinian restaurant, no where near the Tube

10th November
Another trip south of the River for a family meal. This time in picturesque Brockley/Forest Hill borders.
In an totally unassuming row of local shops, next to a greasy spoon cafe is a focus of Italian sophistication. There is a fairly upbeat and comprehensive web site at http://lequerce.co.uk/ .
What it does not tell you is that this appears to be a family orientate restaurant serving very Italian tasting food that is something different. The menu is supplemented by a huge specials list, and they seem very keen to offer something slightly out of the ordinary and likely to make people come back.
I had a fairly boring meal. For starter, I had a pasta:

Tagliolini al Ragú

This as you can see is a ribbon style pasta with a meat ragu sauce. The thing is that this actually tasted like the food did in Italy in September. It was hot scoring an 8.5 on the CHOF scale and extremely tasty.

For main course I had

Costolette di Agnello

I asked for this to be medium and it was probably the high end of medium but in no way overcooked, and also scored about an 8 to 8.5 on the CHOF scale. I had accompanying french fries.

I had a fairly boring house special tiramasu for desert

but the house attraction was the home made ice cream in a variety of bizarre flavours which included
Pepperoncino (Chilli Pepper) Caffé (Coffee) Rabarbaro (Rhubarb) Mirto e era (Myrtleberry and Pear) Banana, Cardamomo e Zenzero (Banana, Cardamom and Ginger)Banana e semi di senape (Banana and mustard seeds) Agilo o Cipolla (Onion or Garlic) Zucca e Amaretto (Pumpkin and Amaretto) Melanzana (Aubergine) Zafferano (Saffron)

I tried the chilli the garlic and the banana cardamon and ginger. These were 'interesting' and it was probably for the best that portion sizes were not huge.

Without wine, the bill came to about £25 per head, so it was not cheap, but was a good repeat worthy experience with hot food.

Il Tocca d'Artista, North Finchley. Popular suburban Italian

Saturday, 2nd November
Our moving dinner friends' outing was to this small trattoria like restaurant just south of North Finchley. It had been test driven by two of our group, and has lots of positive opinions on TripAdvisor. There is no web presence.
Saturday night was busy, and waiting staff seemed to be a bit overwhelmed. In fact our main course order appeared to have been lost, and the waitress came out to confirm what we thought we had ordered. I think they had lost the order.
The menu is quite short and with old favourites. There are specials and many of the diners were tucking into large bowls of mussels, which I never eat.
I had squid in a sauce for starter.

For a starter portion, it was quite expensive, being the same price as main course pasta. In fact most of the starters were a bit on the expensive side compared to the costs of the main courses. Whilst I have seen lemon with squid before, I have never had it with orange, and did not try to make the combination. Whilst attractive and hot ( a nine on the CHOF scale), the squid was a bit rubbery. I checked with the cold squid that my wife had in her seafood salad, and I seemed to have drawn the short straw here. 

For main course, I had the veal in mushroom and cream sauce.

They obviously had a few spare oranges going. However, this was a decent portion, also a 9 on the CHOF scale and lived up to expectations, additional vegetables were a plate of spinach and fried courgettes, and sautee potatoes. With four bottles of house wine between six (someone must have had my share), the bill came to just under £30 each, which was probably a bit on the expensive side, as there was no desert. I noted that there was a cover charge, and given that there was no bread and no table cloth, and one bowl of olives between six, that was pushing their luck.

I would say that this is probably best for pizza and pasta judging by what other diners were eating. Service was very slow and best that you don't go there expecting to leave soon. A nice touch is leaving a bottle of limoncello on the table which patrons can help themselves to. Makes one feel a bit better in several ways including the fact that hot food was served hot..

DonPietro, Gants Hill, Essex: Eat fast on Saturday night before the nightclub opens

19 October
A convenient meeting place for a grown up family gathering was deemed to be the Don Pietro Italian restaurant on Cranbrook Road in Gants Hill. This is very close to the Southend Road, and Gants Hill Tube station. It also is a couple of doors down from the Faces night club, which I am told is favoured by Essex youth. For that reason, on a Saturday night, so we were told, the place closed at 10pm for health and safety reasons. There is a more than comprehensive web site at http://www.donpietro.co.uk/ but whoever wrote the code for this page assumes everyone has a wide screen.
At 7pm when we arranged to meet, it was already filling up. This might be due to the special offer of a two course meal for £10 which seemed to be what all the clients wanted. Given that a main meat course from the a-la-carte was £15, it made a lot of sense providing the limited menu (see web page) suited. The place made its money up on drink as a bottle of house plonk, straightforwardly called Vino Rosso (no pretensions here) was £15, and a small cup of coffee was £2.50. Service is reputedly slow and the big thing is that the special deal ownly works if the order reaches the kitchen before 7.30, so no pressure there.
For starter, I had funghi picante (sliced fresh mushrooms in a hot spicy tomato and black olive salsa. Theis was exactly as described. 

This was a decent sized portion as described above, with some bread and was hot scoring a 8.8 on the CHOF scale. This was suprising judging how slow the service was, but perhaps they cooked each dish separately rather than keeping them hanging around. Recommended.

For main course I had the Fegato Venetian (sic), which was a different spelling of the dish I would normally have and was described as Finest Dutch calves liver with sautéed onions, served with potatoes & vegetables

This was not quite what any of us expected, as my researches suggest that the onions should be slowly cooked until soft, and typically it is like a sauce/gravy. This was more like liver and onions. Nevertheless, this was perfectly well cooked tasty and hot, also an 8.8 on the CHOF scale. My wife had beef stroganoff which I tasted and was excellent.

Basically for £10 plus drinks and service, you cannot raise any complaints, and it was hot. I would definitely go back there again, and try something else off the menu, but only if I had the time as service is slow. It has a family feel to it. When we left about 9.30, the drinkers/smokers were spilling out into the street from bars near the nightclub. Three effective looking door men were policing the entrance to Faces. I have no knowledge of these thing but http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2186947/TOWIEs-James-Arg-Argent-tries-head-leaves-nightclub-girls.html

No wonder they close early.

ITSU (Picadilly): eat beautiful

18th October.
After a meeting at Burlington House, we needed somewhere to eat that was convenient, and not a big hit. My wife suggested Itsu, and although we are not great consumers of Japanese food, I was recommended that the noodles had been found to be acceptable in the past.
We were told the place closed at 9.30 pm, and arrived about 8.30, when it was not busy at all. I think it may be a largely lunchtime activity with take out, as some of the dishes are lunchtime only. There is an extensive but possibly slightly pretentious web page at http://www.itsu.com/ and in the restaurants there is a menu with pictures just in case you are still in doubt. No alcohol was in site, just strange soft drinks.
We started with an omega 3 salmon supreme. This is very pretty to start with, and we should have guessed that the salmon was only there in small quantities. I should have photographed this at an earlier stage.

We are not great lovers of Sushi, and I consumed most of this, which was most acceptable, but I think I would have preferred it with some of the green horseradish based condiment, which I could not find. There is a little bottle of soy sauce in the packaging.

For main we both had the chicken with udan noodles in dynamite (not really) broth. This came in a pot to take away, and was tricky to decant in the bowls supplied to us.

This was hot and tasty, with a good helping of chicken. Scored a 8.8 on the CHOF scale. I think a greater selection of sauce condiments could have helped but as I am not a great aficionado of Japanese food, it may have been quite authentic.

For desert we tried the zero fat fro go frozen probiotic yoghurt with blueberries and one with honey cashews

I am a fan of plain yoghurt, and quite liked this. There was probably too much for a single helping with what we had had before. As this is very low calorie (the yoghurt component of the above container was said to be 99 calories) and fat free we could not work out what it was. The nutrition guide says most of it is carbohydrate. You get more than in a similar nutrition-value pot of diet yoghurt from a supermarket, so it must be in the whipping up process. I liked the slightly sweet taste, but not everyone would. Interesting, but I might not make a habit of this. A meal for two excluding drinks came to about £27 eat in. If you come to a branch of Itsu in the half hour before closing, you can buy what they have left in sushi packs for half price if that is what you want to take home with you at 9 in the evening.

Cochin: a good import from East Finchley.

12th October.
We have a cousin who likes to go out for a curry, but we don't want to disappoint him. So this was actually my second visit to Cochin in Finchley pretty much opposite Tesco in Ballards Lane. It moved there from East Finchley a couple of years ago. I have previously mentioned the ideal that if you go somewhere really good, it is possible to be disappointed by a return visit, but this was not the case here. Top notch. There is a fairly helpful website about the south Indian food on http://www.cochinrestaurant.co.uk/index.html which also gives a menu and prices. We went on a Saturday night, when it was fairly busy, but not full. You might get in without a reservation at the weekend.
For starter, I shared a non-vegetarian mixed starter with my wife:

This is a fairly substantial plate with a shami kebab, meat samosa, pieces of cheick tikkah and bits of tandoori chicken. It was hot (8.8 on the CHOF scale) fresh and very spicy and tasty. This is a good portion even for two, and means that you might want to moderate on main courses.

For main course I had the non-vegetarian thali which is a mix of various curries, lentils, raitah, rice and paratha.

Again, attractively presented, very tasty, also a 8.8 in hotness and a good way to get a taste of various things. I guess because they can do a mix like this quite quickly, that there may be vats of the stuff out the back which they heat up. Anyone's guess.

A meal for four with poppadoms and drinks but no desert came to £104, so a little bit more expensive than average, but a very above average meal. Definitely will go back, and now the local better curry house of choice. They serve hot food.

Sharod Barkingside: Indian local eat in beloved by locals with no surprises and free Maltesers

21st September
Barkingside is one of those outer London Suburbs, without a London Postcode, that few have visited, as it not on the way to anywhere of note except Essex.
Sharod is a bit of local institution, and I have eaten there several times with family members living around the area. It is a cosy place, and on Saturday night can become so busy that there is a queue for tables. It is debatable whether it is possible to book a table (probably so), but as there is no useful web based information beyond the location and telephone number, it is assumed that it would be a good idea to call ahead.
Service is always friendly, but can be a bit on the slow side. The menu is completely unremarkable, and the pricing is reasonable average: it is very middle of road and unlikely to disappoint.
I had a sheek kebab to start;

I note from the timing on the photograph that it was about 45 minutes from crossing the threshold to serving.

This was sizzling hot (9.5 on CHOF score) and came with lots of onions. The restaurant always has supplied a plate of free popadoms and pickles while waiting, just to take your mind off things. This was very tasty, but the somewhat red colour was a little suspicious.

For main course I was very boring and had the traditional Indian dish of Chicken Tikka Masala.with rice.

This was hot (CHOF of 8.9 but the hot plate did not get it any higher) but very red. It lacked the nutty/coconut flavour that typifies this dish in many Indian restaurants, and was good but not perfect. Quantities of food are good, and my memory dissuaded me from ordering a Naan bread as well, as this would have been a step too far.

The thing about Sharod is that they always give us a postprandial drink e.g. brandy, a handful of sweets and a box of Maltesers or similar to take home. This gift relationship is good business, and people leave with a smile on their faces.

As to the food, it is average in every respect, but never less than average. It can be very noisy on a Saturday night, especially when both full and with a queue inside. On this occasions, there was a table of gentlemen friends on the adjacent table who may have been graduates of Heythrop College (or may not). They had clearly prefaced their visit with some local lubrication, and had lost all sense of what constituted normal conversational volume. May be this is normal in Barkingside, as this place is a local institution with a solid faithful following, because it is reliable. You get no suprises at the Sharod.

Rivington Greenwich: Sunday brunch for the recession proof

15th September
I was due to go on a photowalk in Greenwich, and my family suggested Sunday Brunch in Greenwich at 1115. The suggested Venue was Rivingtons as it ticked most of the boxes for reputation, child friendly, vegetarian tolerant, and location. I am not a bruncher, but because we had to be done and dusted by 1pm, it was the only potential answer.
I am always suprised by the the number of people who don't eat breakfast at home. I know I have a friend in NYC who says that he has never ever cooked in his kitchen and eats 100% of his meals out, but has that culture come to London, or is that the eating of breakfast out is a treat I am not used to? Clearly many others have got past that questioning stage, because it was busy. May be the proximity to the city and Canary Wharf distorts the demography. I could not say with any certainty how many of the diners were Greenwich tourists (of which there are many).
Check out the menu at http://www.rivingtongreenwich.co.uk/_img/pics/pdf_1379626519.pdf .
I decided on the full English as it was breakfast and lunch combined, and the place did not change from the breakfast menu until the noon bell had rung.

This is not greasy spoon breakfast, and it clearly is being presented as if warranted the same care and attention as any other main dish. It was a mixed CHOF with some elements warmer than others but overall it gained a 7.7, with the sausage as an 8.5 as they always retain their heat better. The quality was excellent, and the quantity was sufficient to keep me going until the evening. This is quality breakfast for those with disposable incomes, and clearly they know where to come. I did not know that this was part of a group called Caprice Holdings, and if you check out their web site http://www.caprice-holdings.co.uk/ it will give a clearer idea of the quality of their stable.

Hotel Aranci, Vieste: like stepping back in time (in a good way)

7th September
About 30 years ago, when my children were very small, we went on a package holiday to Lido di Jessolo in northern Italy. It was a favourite seaside venue of many nations, and the hotels were middle of the road, serving middle of the road Italian food to families, and adapting to their particular needs. By modern day standards, it was all very quaint. It was the days before huge attractions and nightclubs and singles bars. Coming to Vieste in 2013 was a bit like stepping back 30 years. It it was not for the fact that the rooms now have flat screen televisions and telephones and free wifi, you might not know. The decor is the same, and for the mostly half board guests, the restaurants could have been a stopped clock. I do not mean this in any derogatory manner, and if fact it brought a bit of joy to my stick-in-the-mud heart that this sort of thing, and the holidays for native families on the beach is still alive and well in some parts of the world.

We dined in the hotel dining room and our 50 British tourists were mingled with other guests and ate the same as them. A four course dinner, with antipasta, pasta, main and desert.
The antipasta came from a hot or cold buffet, and was a huge variety of local style dishes.

The hot was so-so, scoring about a 6.9.

We were more luck with the steaming plates of pasta with seafood served to our table.

The main course was a little less exciting. being a non-descript escaloppe of meat which could have been pork.

However it scored a 7.9 and clearly was of Italian intent.

Breakfasts were in a modern annex of the hotel, and despite a review that had warned is that all that was available is bread and cake, they had run to a more extensive buffet. This was good news and bad news. I have to show this picture of the chafing dish that was used for egg and sausage:

Clearly another example of local project management, with no quality improvement activities during our stay. Suffice it to say, that the food was cold scoring about 2 on the CHOF scale. However they did serve fresh cappuccinos and the bread was excellent. 

As there was nothing but sliced processed cheese on offer, we bought some of our own from a local supermarket which did the trick. We saw other families had brought their own supplementary items into breakfast. It was also quite clear that some of the families were using breakfast as a filled-roll factory and were making their lunches for the beach. The hotel was turning a blind eye to this, but it meant that some of the bread and deli supplies vanished temporarily before re-ups were provided. My wife said the backed apples were excellent.

All in all, for a good old fashioned family hotel experience in a charming town, I would recommend the Hotel Aranci.

Hilton Garden Inn, Matera, Southern Italy

6th September.
I have reviewed this hotel on TripAdvisor, but just a word about the breakfast.
This is a modern looking smart hotel on the outskirts of Materia in Southern Italy. Accepting a party of 50 British tourists clearly was beyond their skill set and project management  After an underwhelming in-house evening meal, we were sequestered off into a separate room for breakfast the following day. As the breakfast area in the main restaurant was empty, this was not understandable. Knowing that food is left hanging around, we arrived at breakfast early.

Even at 6.30 in the morning, this huge vat of scrambled egg was cold. Nul Pointes.

As an eating experience, this hotel had nothing to recommend it. As there is nothing for at least five miles around, unless you have a car, you will not get much in the way of hot food or service. This is no way to treat tourists in an area that needs the trade.

RISTORANTE IL BORGHESE, Matera, Italy: still a bit hit and miss but better than the hotel food.

5th September.
As part of the policy of some nights out during our tour of Puglia, we were taken to this restaurant in Matera. The reason why people visit Matera is the cave houses in the Sassi area, so whilst not used to coach loads of foreign tourists, there are definitely tourists (of a more local kind).
We ate outside, which did not become a problem as the weather was good, and were offered a limited choice menu, which took a long time to deliver, so that some were finishing a course before others had even started.
The nature of the organisation running the tour was to convey via the tour guide the best available impressions and opinions, and to minimize risk, and so it was that the meals were always described in their simplest form, sometimes minimizing issues that might lead to distress.
There was a starter of a small pie with leeks. I had to get that information some time later from my wife, and clearly it was no so memorable that I could know from looking at the picture, which is my usual prompt.

This was followed by the orcchiette (again) with a sausage and mushroom sauce. This was good, hot enough, but the pasta was a little heavy.

The main course I chose was a fillet of beef. Having looked at the Tripadvisor reviews (after the event rather than before, I think what this was was beef with a balsamic vinegar sauce. The beef was quite chewy and in strange small slices. From the picture, it can be seen that it was also quite rare..

It came served like this on the individuals plate. What the picture fails to convey is that the portion is actually relatively modest, and the accompanying fried potatoes and salad did not really go with it, nor was there room on the plate. A strange meal, but in general, TripAdvisor diners found it good. The issue is clearly that restaurants take on the business of parties of diners paying up front for catering., do not have the resources to deal with them in the same way as their individual customers, and try to cut corners firstly by restricting choice (makes sense) and then treating them as a captive audience. They know that there are not going to be big tips or big drinkers here, so they are maximising turnover making hay whilst the sun shines. Given the choice between this or the boring hotel food, there is no choice. In an ideal world, maybe evening meals should have been a matter of personal initiative (I have successfully negotiated that one before), but when your hotel is 8km out of town, and with negligible public transport, you have to go with the flow.

To be very charitable, the restaurant staff could not have been more pleasant, and there were small birthday cakes for those in the group who had birthdays during the tour. Things are just a bit more laid back and disorganised in this part of Italy that has been cut off from main tourism booms.

Divine Providence Lecce. A more promising place to eat in Lecce

3rd September
Our guide on the tour had organised a feast type meal here with many dishes to sample. More hit than miss this time and good to get a variety. As they served mussels which I don't care for, it was also good that there were so many courses that missing one did not matter. There was too much to summarise, so I show a small sample. Impossible to judge hotness because of the large number of dishes served simultaneously.

This was just two of the pastas served. Puglia is big on the ear-shaped pasta or orcchiette and the one that they called fingers. Good, but could have been hotter.

This was an excellent sea bass, and was probably the best part of the meal.

An excellent pannacotta.

The whole meal reassured us that there was better food to be had, but it is still a bit hit and miss. Reviews of this restaurant on Trip Advisor are generally positive.OSTERIA DELLA DIVINA PROVVIDENZA

via francesco rubichi 4c, Lecce, Italy

Locanda Rivoli, Lecce. Local cooking, but pasta is a problem

3rd September.
After the hit and miss meal at the hotel, we were pleased to find lunch for ourselves in Lecce. Using Trip Advisor, my first two choices did not seem to exist any more, and this was a random choice. If I had checked it out first, I would have read about the pasta problem, but we found it out for ourselves. Otherwise we had a very interesting lunch. There is a web site at http://www.locandarivoli.it/ but it will need a translation. Like many places in Puglia, there is no tradition of international tourists (even though they had a menu in English of sorts) and only one of the staff had sufficient English.
To start, I had mozarella stuffed with cream.

It was not exactly cream inside, but some sort of cream cheese. This was a very rich dish, and probably more than one person could handle on their own. Because it was there on the menu, I ordered intestines stuffed with liver. This was sold by the piece at 2euros a piece, and they were a little confused when I only asked for one piece, but this was only a taster.

You cannot get a real feel for the size here, but it is the size of a small fat sausage, and that is really what it was like: a spicy liver sausage. Again very rich, and I think I would not have wanted to have a meal exclusively of these, but it is probably a local taste. Scored an 8.5 on the CHOF scale. Not for the squeamish or those who do not eat offal.

My main course was a local pasta which translated as fingers, and seems to be common in the area with clams (vongole).

This was tasty and hot enough but was hard work getting the clams out of the shells. My wife's pasta dish turned out to have undercooked hard pasta, beyond al dente. This had been noted before at this restaurant, and it is strange that they persisted in undercooking pasta despite the comments on TripAdvisor. Presumably they don't look or understand, or have no interest, or may be this is normal. We will never know, but take this as a warning.

The local pie we shared for desert was underwhelming, and was a bit like custard tart. Local pie for local folk.

So, all in all, an interesting meal, but diminished by the hard uncooked pasta. A feature of our trip was the rather hit and miss nature of eating out, and the reputation for consistently good restaurant food that is the norm for Italy was mised in Puglia. They still have some way to go.

Hilton Garden Hotel, Lecce, Puglia, Italy: uninspiring food for Tourists

2nd September.
The period 2-9th September is detailing food eaten on a Riviera Coach trip to Puglia, Italy. Dinner was included in the holiday, and 4/7 nights was based on the three hotels we were staying in.
Hilton Garden Inn, in Lecce is a comfortable out of centre hotel. The staff manage to make a global brand have an Italian flavour (e.g. none of the room doors working on one floor), but given the opportunity to impress a relatively adventurous coach party ( you have to be a bit adventurous to be visiting this off the grid part of Italy) of Britons, they failed with an uninspiring meal and chaotic hotel organisation.
So for our communal dinner, this was the menu (no choice):

Expectations were modestly high at the start, but the first course, which may have been soup defeated many. We were told that it was a fairly traditional dish in this part of the world, and various variations were to be found in surrounding countries:

It looked like soup, but its consistency was fairly thick and as you can see, the bread could not sink in it. It was hot (CHOF 9) but somewhat bland and beany. My wife thought it would have benefited from some chili flavoured olive oil. Some seconds were offered, but most people politely declined. A triumph of menu English, but the only one.

The main course was somewhat sparse and looked boring.

I made the picture small, because the portion size was small. It was more or less hot, scoring a 7.5 as I remember it, and most of the heat resided in the potatoes which were clearly not mashed.The piccatina looks like other piccatina dishes on the web, so that is clearly what was intended. Uninspiring.

The desert was exactly as described on the menu, so apple pie it was.

Breakfast was a bit of a surprise as typically in Italy one may get nothing more than bread cake and coffee. This hotel has a breakfast buffet, which sounds fine in theory, but give the influx of 50 travelers on the same timetable, the simultaneous delivery of breakfast defeated them. The coffee machines ran out of hot water and milk, other things ran out, and the somewhat promising buffet was not as it seemed.

On the first morning, the buffet was luke warm, as might have been expected (I mistakenly thought that if we had come earlier, it might have been hot), but on the second morning, where we all had to eat at 0630, the hotel excelled itself. The contents of the buffet were actually cold. I complained and from the one person who spoke hotel English was informed that the range was new and therefore was not to be expected to work. Raw sausages and cold potatoe. Nul Pointes.

The one highlight on both mornings was the signature waffles. If you had not come across the self cooked waffle before (more of an American phenomenon) this may not have been on your radar. Most of our party had never heard of this, and after a while I worked out how to do this with premixed waffle mix and sauces and a machine that timed itself. Success, and a waffle that scored 10 on the scale for hotness as it was freshly cooked to my specifications (slightly less than the instructions). 

Pity I could not have had more control over the temperature and creation of the other food. Lecce is not used to significant numbers of tourists, and they may get better in a few years time.

Conclusion: uninspiring food for Italy.