Gastro Clapham: More or less French Food.

28th April 2014
A meeting of people involved in some other writing I do led me to a middle of the road bistro in Clapham. It is bang opposite the picture house at Clapham Common, and is therefore easy to reach from the Tube station. This was the night of the start of the first 48hrs strike, but the Northern Line was running so I did not need a plan B to get home.
Claaham and St Ockwell have become the haunts of the young professionals and monied who work in the city and other well paid jobs. Their survival needs have followed them, and the area is full of places to not eat at home, wine bars, clubs and bicycle shops. If you want to pay £20 for fish and chips, this is the area to be.
There is no web presence for this bistro, but there are plenty of mixed reviews to be seen elsewhere. (One discusses the presence of a rat, and this fits with the advice of a colleague of mine who said it is always a risky business eating in restaurants a stone's throw from underground stations, but I saw no evidence.)Inconsistency is the consistent finding, and it may depend on when you use the Gastro. It serves breakfast as well as meals during the rest of the day, and the early diners seem to be the most satisfied. Many say it is like a splash of Paris in London. This is sort of true in appearance and ambience, but the menu is French for average British tastes in my opinion. A place for everyday eating rather than special eating. I got there early (partially as a result of misunderstanding) and at 1900, the place was empty. At 2000 on a Monday it was pretty busy, and as our reservation had been 'lost' it was just as well there was some space.
The menu is French as Brits would expect. The staff seem to be a mixture of geographical origin, and our waitress seemed to have neither French or English as a first language. Lighting was very low, a pictures are bit dim and noisy.
For starter, I had the suitably French option of Onion Soup:

The somewhat exotic Clapham Common tube station

For those that know, the camera automatically set itself to ISO 12800 which accounts for this somewhat noisy picture of a bowl of soup. This was a bit of a d.i.y. event, and the soup could have been a bit hotter to disseminate the cheese. Scored a 7.8 on the CHOF scale. Warm enough, but should have been hotter.

For main course I had chicken stuffed with garlic mousse with French beans and a side order of frites. This tasted better than it looks, with a smooth mildly garlic filling, but could have done with being a bit hotter. Scored 7.8 on the CHOF scale.

Fortunately, as my publisher was footing the bill, I did not pay too much attention to the costs, but the prices were consistent with the location and food. Whilst this was an entirely satisfactory experience, it was not so good as to make me say I would definitely go there again. I might put it as second choice, or use it when someone did not want to go to one of my favourites. Service was patchy, but as this was an evening for chat rather than the dining experience, it did not matter. A bottle of pinot noir was indifferent.

My conclusion: if you want comfortably priced French style Bistro food, and don't want to go to Cafe Rouge, this fits the bill. It feels more of a bistro experience than Rouge. Food could have been a bit hotter, as it consistently missed the 8 mark.

The Haven Bar and Bistro: Jewel in the Crown for Whetstone's Restaurant Row

21st April 2014
The Haven has long been a local high spot of better dining. When we first started using it a decade ago you had to book a Saturday night table at least a month in advance. I don't know how it is currently, but for a Monday night after a bank holiday, there was no trouble getting in. One of our reservations about the Haven is that when we have been before, and it has been busy, it has been very noisy and difficult to converse. On this occasion, as there were very few customers, it was not a problem. Monday night may be a good night to go if you do not need the busy restaurant atmosphere. We have also used the bar area in the past as they serve good reasonably-priced cocktails and bar food. This can be busy on Thursday through the weekend. They have a fairly comprehensive web presence at http://www.haven-bistro.co.uk/Welcome.html

The atmosphere of the Haven restaurant is modern and hard. The walls are plain, with illustrations, and the floor and wall hardness mean that when it gets busy, it is noisy. The staff all wear a corporate black T shirt and trousers, which whilst making a clear distinction between staff and customers, seems a little out of place for this atmosphere. Whilst sufficiently upmarket to expect clients to be a bit dressed up, this was not the case on the night we went, and the 'anything reasonable goes' rule for dress code seemed to be operational that night. The menu is fairly short, and changes frequently but there are some old favourites which are frequently seen. In recent times, there has been a move to fixed menu pricing, which is a good thing, as you know where you are as you know the cost of a two or three course meal, but there are several supplements and it seems a shame that the 'know where you are status' is disrupted by having to pay for their bread basket. Nevertheless if you take the big view, the overall costs are normal for North London.
I had a somewhat unbalanced but highly satisfactory meal that night:
I started with chicken livers in a sauce with spinach:

As it is an important couples venue, the lighting was low, and got even lower during the evening. I was using my 'phone camera, and found that the flash had to be used to get an adequate image. I did not notice the chip in the rustic bowl at the time, which was hopefully what it had been cooked in. This was a significant portion (have to judge by the knife at the side) for a starter. It was well cooked, and scored an 8.4 on the CHOF scale. This was a good choice which I would have again, if it is available, but I have not seen it on the menu before.

For main course I had the calves liver. I know it was liver and liver, but that is what I wanted.

I had a discussion with the waiter when ordering, and explained that whilst I did not want it well cooked, I did not want blood pouring out when I cut it. The message was clearly received, and this was tender and sufficiently well cooked. Not a huge portion size, but sufficient given the size of the starter. This was an 8.2 on the CHOF scale and was well presented and tasty. I would definitely order this again.

Here are two deserts, mine being the one on the right and was a chocolate pudding with ice cream. I am not the greatest of desert fans, but this was pretty good.

A three course meal from the set menu is £23. Bread basket was about £3. Wines are not cheap, and one can expect to pay £18-20 for an low end product, but their wines are good, and you are unlikely to be disappointed  with the cheap end of the bin. So a meal for two including bread, wine and service came to a little over £80. Whilst a bit above the local average, the meal was also well above average, so you get what you pay for. The staff on this night were helpful (need to see what a busy night is like to get the real idea) and service was prompt which would expect. As the place was empty, and one could see in their eyes a need to shut shop for the night, there was no lingering.

I like the haven and was not disappointed. With the set price menu you more or less know where you are.

Viking Hemming: Good Portuguese food on a floating hotel

23-29 March 2014
This entry concerns a cruise on the river Douro in Portugal. The cruise has been reviewed elsewhere on TripAdvisor and a link to my report about the cruise can be found here.
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g189180-d1549777-r199569793-Douro_River_Cruises-Porto_Porto_District_Northern_Portugal.html#REVIEWS
Whilst there were issues with the actual cruise bit of the holiday, I have to say that the food on Viking cruises is excellent in my opinion and what we received on this trip was up to the standard of previous trips. The big difference was that previous trips with Viking had been supplied with Austrian Chefs, and the one on this trip was Portuguese, and we were seeing Portuguese cuisine. Portuguese cuisine is not world famous for several reasons (the ingredients and style are a bit limited and rustic), but what was offered to us left a positive impression. Accompanied by decent local wines, I found little to complain about.

This was the menu from the first night on board. It was probably not as good as some of the subsequent menus. There was some evidence that they were still getting their act together on the first night but things settle down fairly rapidly. Typically there was an amuse-bouche to start then followed by a starter, main and desert or cheese and if you wanted both desert and cheese that was no problem. On this occasion not being certain what roasted meagre was (turns out to be a local white fish) and not particularly wanting duck or the vegetarian dish I opted for the 'always available' option and I knew from past experience that there pan-seared New York steaks were good.

I think the one below is the Portuguese Sausage.

The steak.

None of the individual portion sizes are big, but invariably, by the end of the meal, one was replete. Hotness was not an issue, and was better than Restaurants, probably because they knew they were dealing with a largely UK and American client base who wanted their food hot. I was happy to give 8's to the food on the trip, but never more. The food appeared already plated up, with covers after a bit of a wait. It looked like it was being brought up from down below. Not an easy job. The staff were new to the roles, as this was the maiden voyage, and as we did not have assigned dining tables, we found one with a particularly helpful waitress who looked after us during the holiday. I hesitate to use the work voyage, as we did not actually go very far, but that is another matter dealt with on TripAdvisor.

Portuguese cheeses,whilst interesting are not what you might go looking for. There was nothing of particularly interesting taste or texture, and I guess the French probably have the cheese thing sewn-up.

As always on this sort of trip, there will be people who do not find the choice of food or its taste to their satisfaction. I have to say that I have never had a problem with food on Viking River Cruises and have always looked forward to that aspect of the holiday.

More pictures of different meals:

There was no evidence of resupplying the ship; we never saw the supply wagons arriving. We can therefore only assume that the whole of the catering supplies for the voyage was there when we left Porto and stored in it either chilled or frozen. As there were only about 80 passengers, and the trip only lasted 6 days, this sounds entirely feasible.

Hotel Tivoli, Lisbon:

22nd of March 2014
The Hotel Tivoli is a well-known long-standing fixture in the Avenue Liberdade in the north of the centre of Lisbon. I had actually stayed there many years ago when I was looking at a new job and it was with positive recollections that I remembered that the rooms in the hotel were quite comfortable and the breakfast had been OK. That was well before the days when I used to record methodically what I ate and so I welcomed the opportunity to record this hotel now. On entering the hotel one can be quite impressed by the somewhat open but dark public areas. Rooms are quite comfortable but given that this should be a five star hotel it is probably not five-star in UK expectation.  We were there for a couple of nights as an organised tour group prior to a river cruise and although we did not eat any meals in the restaurant we used it for breakfast. I enjoy hotel breakfasts and among the various entries on this blog I have recorded some excellent examples of what I would call first-class breakfasts. Last year during a trip to Lisbon, where I actually stayed out of town in Sintra, there was a truly first class experience in the Pena Longha resort, which is also five star. One of the acid tests of a five star breakfast is the presence of smoked salmon and sparkling wine. Whilst the Tivoli had the former, the latter was not to be found. These are hard times still in Portugal. As noted elsewhere, Portugal is a country where hot food is not an essential component of life, and it was no surprise that the various hot food stations were only modestly hot. I guess I should know better and just stick to the cold buffet. Maybe it is just that it is accepted that Southern European Food may not be hot.

No steam and not much in the way of flames

As you can see it is all very old fashioned and a bit silver service in style.

My modest selection from the hot buffet: not very hot, and probably about a 7

Bitter experience of eating in group tours indicates that the early bird gets the choice of fresh worms. We were there pretty much just after the restaurant opened. It was the weekend, so they were catering to tourists and groups. Within about a half hour when the more leisurely of the group decided to stir, all the tables were occupied, and there was a queue to get in to breakfast. In my opinion, this is something that should not happen in a five star hotel, even with a group that is adhering to a strictish timetable.

In conclusion, five star it was not, but it was a comfortable hotel. The breakfast was four star at best, and could have been hotter.

Bota Alta, Lisbon: feels like you are in Portugal

21st March 2014
Knowing that I was going to be arriving in Lisbon late on a Friday night, and facing the possibility that it might be a big night out there, it seemed a good idea to have a restaurant reservation in place. Reviewing various Internet resources for a suitable place not so far from the hotel we were using (the subject of another review later), the area of Bairro Alto became an obvious choice. The catch is that the area, which is the sort of quaint drinking and eating area of older Lisbon is up a steep hill and has to reached by either a funicular type tram or lift (both very quaint and part of the Lisbon experience). The restaurant does not have a web presence of its own that is easily locatable, but there are plenty of other references, and a menu in Portuguese. You will need a map or a taxi to locate the place but it is simple once you know where you are and it is not far from the tram.
The name comes from an old boot that is on display, and the place is a mixture of tourist and local trade. I made a reservation over the phone from the UK, some of the staff speak very good English, and are very helpful. The appearance is old world quaint, and tables are tessellated in to get the maximum occupancy of the two rooms of this small establishment.
On the table there are olives bread and cheese, but you have to pay extra for these, and they are not strictly necessary. I chose the sopa alentegana, a typically Portuguese style dish as a first course which was sold to me from the English menu as a garlic soup. According to the Portuguese wikipedia the basic composition of the bread dish is garlic, salt, olive oil, boiling water and sliced ​​bread, however to this mixture are added herbs like cilantro or penny royal and can be serve with fresh fish (baked or fried), cod or egg (poached or boiled). I think mine came with an egg and was more like the Spanish Sopa da Ajo except with the bread in it.

Suffice it to say, this is not for people who want a light meal. The taste was not as garlicky as I might have predicted, and the bread soaked up a lot. However it was hot enough scoring an 8 which is probably as hot as anything is ever going to get in Portugal in a restaurant.

For main course I had Carne de Porco à Alentejana. According to Wikipedia it  is one of the most traditional and popular pork dishes of Portuguese cuisine. It is typical from the Alentejo region, in Portugal, hence the word Alentejana (from Alentejo) in its name. It is a combination of pork and clams (not apparent in my version), with potatoes and coriander. Usually  pork is marinated for four hours in white wine, paprika, chopped garlic, coriander, bay leaf, and salt and pepper. It is then fried until golden brown at which point clams are added and cooked for an additional two minutes. Traditionally this dish is served with cubed French fries or baked potatoes.

As you can see this is may be not exactly as described and  pretty heavy stuff Some reviewers on TripAdvisor have found the traditional food served here to be a bit rough and artisanal. The local cuisine is not known for its finesse. Again this was hot enough scoring an 8 but was heavy and a bit greasy. The vegetable matter was a vinaigrette based cole slaw like accompaniment.Very traditional, and may not for everyone.

I would have no hesitation in recommending this place as a suitable local restaurant for tourist use. The prices were very reasonable, and staff very helpful. I would go there again.

Est Caffe, Terminal 1 London Heathrow Airport: take it or leave it.

21st March 2014
A somewhat delayed series of reports for the past month.
We were on our way to Lisbon, prior to joining a cruise of the Douro (another story which I report on TripAdvisor). There is not much choice for a decent breakfast in Terminal one. Some of the usual places, and picnic food. I knew from previous bitter experience that the food on a TAP flight to Portugal in economy would be minimalist (turned out to be true), so I am of the opinion that it is better to stoke up, given that you never know where the next meal is coming from (we actually did, as I had booked dinner in Lisbon that night)
Est is an open plan cafe that purports to be Italian emphasis. It is mainly targeting the Pizza market and like some of the other food outlets, Breakfast is seen as a money spinning afterthought.

There is very little web based information about what goes on here (why would they need it) and the TripAdvisor reviews are extremely mixed. http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d2085459-Reviews-Est_Caffe-London_England.html I am not a great fan of traditional full English Breakfast - I like some bits of it, and chose on this occasion the frittata.

I guess they cannot forget that they mainly do pizzas. The dish was marked by content of choirzo which is not very Italian. It was fairly hot 7.7 on the the scale but was a bit rubbery, somewhat overcooked  and came with no accompaniments: everything is extra. I would hesitate before making this choice again. The coffee as usual came much before food, and was small and not very hot. The bill for two of us came to about £17 which is fairly typical for a breakfast for two at Heathrow. Sellers' market. I think I would hesitate before going back there again for Breakfast for many reasons. Others seem to agree.

A Brasa: Brazilian barbecue food in North Finchley: a real find

28th Feb

NOTE: AS OF DECEMBER 2014, THIS PLACE HAS CLOSED, AND DESPITE THE LARGE NUMBER OF VIEWS OF THIS BLOG ENTRY, SUCCESS DID NOT COME.
A SHAME AS THE ONLY SIMILAR ALTERNATIVE IS A BIT MORE EXPENSIVE.


Our little dining club of friends took a punt on a new restaurant in North Finchley opposite Sainsbury's. This place has had many identities recently, some of which were short lived. Despite a good review in the Sunday times, the Polish Cafe did not last, and the succeeding Italian came and went in a few weeks. I had been pondering this place for a few weeks, and even looked in, but my lunchtime visit failed to reveal what was in store.
This is the antithesis of the smart London restaurants with young staff that treat you as if they are doing you a favour. This is run by adults who treat their customers almost as if they were their children.It all really feels like someone decided to give this a go, without really figuring out a cutting edge business plan. You can't really work out from the outside what is going on, the pricing is confusing, even the nature of what you will get is not entirely sure, but all became clear. There are no reviews yet (This may be the first) on the web for you to look it up.
The place has a minimum of web presence, limited to one page on facebook, which in retrospect was quite helpful https://www.facebook.com/ABrasaRodizio/info . They say "We are a local, friendly Portuguese restaurant at the heart of North Finchley. A Brasa is a rodizio restaurant which means 'rotating'. We offer a unique dining experience where you will taste an assortment of the finest grilled meat cooked in front of your very own eyes." It is not exactly in front of your eyes, and what comes next is always a surprise. As well as the Brazilian experience, the menu has less random dishes of meat or fish, and a selection of pasta.
The Rodizio meal is a fixed price of about £18 (price seems to change) for all you can eat meat and salad and hot vegetable buffet. We went on a Friday night, and the place is not so busy.
The pictures are not very good as they were taken with my phone and the lighting is quite dim.

The buffet has nothing too strange here. The hot vegetarian section had a mix of bean stew, rice, potatoes and mixed green vegetable. This was at typical steam heated buffet heat. The salad section is pretty basic. The appearance of the food is not an issue here.

The meat comes on skewers and is very reminiscent of the Argentinian restaurant El Vaquero that I have reviewed before, but as there were fewer customers, the variety and frequency of delivery was more limited.

There are lots if little tasters of freshly cooked meats, and from where I was sitting, I could see the skewers spinning round, but this was not a display of artisanal cooking. All sorts of other skewers followed with lamb, beef, chicken hearts, sausages as shown above, and it just keeps on coming until you say 'enough'

Diners are given little tongs to help peel the meat off the skewers as it is sliced. The meat is pre-seasoned, and it is a mix of well done and rare. It would be interesting to see how things work if the place gets busy, as I guess there would be a more rapid turnaround. Certainly things did not move quickly when we were there.

The good news is that the meat is very tasty, probably having been marinated or salted or both prior to the spit roast and it is very hot, scoring about a 9.3 on the CHOF scale. Top marks for hotness and novelty.

The bill was as expected, at about £18 per person for the meat and buffet and extra for drinks and service.  They do not take cards of any kind, which I had suspected, and there was a flurry of ATM use in the street to procure the necessary cash by the others. This is unusual, but I dare say it keeps the costs down and the tax man confused.

I can only hope this place survives as it represents something out of the ordinary, and the somewhat laid back nature of the operation leads to a relaxed atmosphere. The all you can eat approach will surely be appreciated by meat lovers.It was also very hot. We will definitely be going back there again.