Luigi's, Beehive Lane, Gants Hill: a local love affair but possibly only local

28th March
A cousins outing to East London, where some cousins live. I am sure I must have been Luigi's many years ago, as it is a bit of a local institution out there, but I did not recognise it and it has probably been remodelled - it looks fairly fresh if not old-school inside.
This is an old fashioned Italian restaurant favoured by those who want brimming plates of familiar dishes, and judging by the Saturday night crowd, it is full of regulars who are greeted by 'Luigi' like long lost friends/customers. The place is quite large, but I have no idea if booking is necessary. I did not see anyone turned away during the evening. They have a somewhat pedestrian web site on http://www.luigis-italian-restaurant.co.uk/ which is still advertising New Years Eve 2014.
The place is fairly welcoming and the staff certainly try to be helpful. There is a menu which is visible on the web site, and a specials board. I ate off the specials, which may or may not have been the best idea.
For starter, I had chicken livers, which were said to be fried and with a tomato and onion sauce.

My Samsung phone probably does not do this justice, but it give the right message that this was a big portion, which was a bit gloopy.  The sauce tended to drown out the flavour of the liver, which was a pity, but it was ok. It was hot enough scoring a 8.4 on the CHOF scale. I cannot say I would recommend this, but it was ok.

For main course, I chose the special Venison steak, medium. I was told that this would come in a red wine sauce, but by the time it was served, I had forgotten this.

As you can see, it was pretty huge, and came with sauté potatoes. I had a side of steamed spinach. As you can see, there was no sauce, but by the time I remembered, it was too late. I have to say that compared to the vegetables it was served with, it could have been hotter, and only rated a 7.7 on the CHOF scale. It was also a bit tougher than I expected. Had I not been in company it would have gone back.

Incidentally the waiter, who may have been fresh off the boat (from eastern Europe) served the people on either side of me with the wrong main course, and when this was indicated, he insisted that the mistake was ours, and the orders were as they had requested. After tasting, it was decided that table waiting in an Italian restaurant was beyond his current skill set, and an informal exchange of plates was arranged.

There was a mature musician playing 'easy listening' music on his electric piano at a volume that jarred for me, but not my companions who love live music. He was greeted by many of the patrons, and is clearly a local institution valued by many. Technically I am sure he was great, but I don't need to hear 'New York, New York' to distract me from meal.

Whilst the ladies of the group loved this place, the men folk were not so sure, and the male opinion was that it failed to hit the spot. I would only go back there again under a three line whip (you won't understand that if you are not British!). Cost of a meal for two including service but very little alcohol and shared desert was about £65. 

Palomar: trendy lunch in Soho

22nd March 2015
A belated Mothers' day lunch, and a suggestion arranged by one of my daughters.
It is difficult to work out why this Middle Eastern restaurant is called Palomar, as there appears to be no logical association. Some about face, there is a picture of the Palomar Observatory in Pasadena overhanging the stairs down to the toilet, but I am guessing whether there are really any connections. The food is said to be Jerusalem style, but more in theory in practice.
It is a modern noisy restaurant, full of Sunday Lunchers, and I certainly would not like to try and get in without a reservation.
There is a bar area at the front where you can sit in front of the food preparation, and a smallish seating area in the rear. It does not hold a lot of people.

The client base is by and large the young and affluent, and I thought that this represents the face of disposable income in London. There are those that have the money to spend, and this is the sort of place they come to.

The essence of the food is sharing and tapas style, and it is recommended that you buy a selection of dishes from the menu and share them. This became a little tricky when trying to share a chicken leg four ways.The menu can be found at http://thepalomar.co.uk/food . The waiter told us that we would need about 8 dishes between the four of us. The distinction between starter and main became blurred but we started with a piece of challah style bread withTahini dip and the Yiddish brochette with chicken liver pate

You cannot actually tell the size of the portions from the photographs, but each of the individual bits of brochette was like a mouth-full. Other reviews had said that the portions were small, and this is true. Best to look at the menu on line and try and work out what we had.

I lost track of what was coming next, but it included a seafood stew with mussels and octopus, a chicken leg, a deconstructed kebab and a plate of dips including houmus. The scale of the dishes can now be judged by the size of the cutlery, but all were taster plates.

The food is fantastic, with unusual combinations of taste and ingredients. As far as hotness was concerned it was a mixed bag, as the dishes ended up sort of buffet style with the four diners sharing until the plates were cleared and things that started off hot did not stay that way. There were no left overs. One desert went 4 ways.

So a lunch for four with half a bottle of wine and soft drinks and filtered tap water (£1.50/person) came to about £130. I am caught here, because the dining experience was excellent, but in my opinion, this is problematic value for money: it represents what people are prepared to spend, and as I was a guest, it was great. As quantities go, it was a little behind my requirements, but it was exactly as other diners had described, so it was no suprise.

Tangerine Nightmare at Temple Place:could this be the worst cup of coffee ever?

22 Feb 2015
A relatively new exhibition space in London is 2 Temple Place, which is owned by the Bulldog Trust. We have been to several exhibitions of an eclectic nature and the house is beautiful and an impressive exhibition space.
When exhibition are on, there is a small cafe with minimal seating (unless you go to another room down the passage) selling teas coffees and minor eats. It is run by a catering organisation called Tangerine Dream who typically work out of the Chelsea Physic Garden.
Not wanting much, we ordered coffee and an overpriced cake.
I was disgusted to see that the small cup of coffee was decanted from an urn.

It simply does not look good, it did not taste good, and it was small. At £3 a cup it gets my vote as the worst cup of coffee of the year. At least it was hot.

I shall be avoiding using the cafe, if I can, in the future. I am amazed that the public put up with such mediocre  fare.

Bayleaf Restaurant, Whetstone: style over substance, and at a price.

1st January 2015
Despite the excesses of the seasonal eatfest and the fact that we had been out for curry the night before, a friends eating group went to the Bayleaf, which is newest Indian Restaurant on the high road, and occupies the site where the Lantern (passing much mourned) used to be and the Greek Grill (disappeared after a short and untested stay). The Bayleaf has a respected takeaway higher up the road, but I have not rated it highly despite the local contrary opinion. Local opinion on the Bayleaf is positive, and so it was good to give it a try. They have a web site on http://bayleaf.co.uk/restaurant/  which is quite helpful and gives clues. When I have passed in the evening, it always seems busy.
The restaurant is very modern, with austere walls and a wall of bubbling tinted water tank with nothing in it but the bubbles. It all looks very high end, with waiters taking orders on tablets and an Apple based epos system (All adds to the cost eventually). On new years day, I had expected it to be deserted, and with a 7.30 booking for 7 people (which I had no difficulty in making a couple of days before), I had expected to be in splendid isolation, but it was not to be the case, and the place was packed on January 1st: a tribute to the curry eating power of the residents of North London.
I wonder if the number of customers that night came as a surprise to the restaurant also (may have been a mix of bookings and cold-callers), and I thought they seemed a little understaffed. It was just as well we were not in any particular hurry, as the service was slow. I cannot tell what the rate limiting factor was: it may have been the speed with which the kitchen decorated the food, or may have been the norm. The restaurant's solution to this was 'push the poppadoms'. For the first half hour, every five minutes we were asked if we would like to order them (not part of cover), and I am guessing that it not only helped to fill the time, but they must be a high margin item at 90p each. (see http://www.currybiz.co.uk/poppadoms.asp for wholesale prices which at time of writing was about £7.50 for 140 pieces or just over 5p each).
Eventually for starter, I had Tikka Nazaqat (the menu said 'Taste the three individual flavoured tikka (hariyali tikka, koyla tikka,  and malai tikka). Succulent pieces of chicken marinated in spices and yuoghurt, barbecud in a traditional charcoal clay oven. Served with fresh salad.) This is what came:

(picture taken in poor light with phone at end of battery with no flash)

Basically this is a small portion priced at £5.45. It was hot enough (7.9) and tasty and fresh, but a very small starter, and as you can see a triumph of style over quantity. The three flavours were subtle.

I ordered the tandoori mixed grill for main. (A combination of Chicken tikka, malai tikka, lamb chop, tandoori chicken and dumba kebabs. Served with a naan)

By this time, the battery on my phone had run out, so there is no picture. Suffice it to say that the portion size was similarly small, and it could have been hotter with a CHOF of 7.5. Perfectly tasty. Not noticing that it came with a naan, I order keema naan. The naan that came with it may or may not have been keema, as there was a severely thin topping of brown on what was more like a paratha than a naan, and was not the keema naan that one might get at a more traditional restaurant. The menu said it would be stuffed, so I am guessing that it did not come. Unfortunately they took the bill away from us at the end so in retrospect, I have no way of knowing what we were charged with: the hazard of eating as a group (you cannot make too much fuss and look credible). If you look at pictures in the gallery of the website, it is clear that fashionably small portions are their thing.

So, for a meal and a drink (beer/house wine), including service, this came to £58 for two. This is 50% more than we had paid the previous night at the Radhuni, for a meal that was not a million miles away. It was ok (I don't know if they can get it hotter on less busy nights) but not more than that, and for a suburban Indian, it was just plain too expensive. Yes the food was attractively served and was pleasing to eat, but the three spodges of sauce are not why you go for a curry. I will avoid going back there.

Radhuni: contemporary Indian Cuisine in the heart of Hampden Circus.

31st December
Having spent enough over the years on indifferent and or overpriced restaurant meals on new years eve, with the enforced jollity at midnight, we did something off target. After seeing the matinee of 'Made in Dagenham', I had booked dinner at 8pm in a local curry restaurant. I did this in the belief that most of the action would be in the more mainstream restaurants catering for those that wanted to celebrate NYE in a conventional way. I was wrong, and at that time on a Thursday night, albeit a big one for eating out, it was packed. For a suburban restaurant on a local parade, they must have loved it, but they did not take advantage of their customers.
The Radhuni used to be the Bekash, and to be honest we had not tried it since it opened two or three years ago. When passing it in the evening it never looked packed, but clearly there is a well deserved local following, which is reflected on TripAdvisor. There is a comprehensive web site giving information (some out of date) on http://radhunigb.co.uk/ . They were serving their normal menu at normal prices: all power to them for treating customers fairly. The menu is a mix of 'contemporary' (meaning not your standard curry and rice)
For starter, I had the Nawabi Kebab which is described in the menu as tender pieces of spring chicken, diced lamb and king prawns marinated in herbs and spices, barbequed in the clay oven.

What you cannot tell from this picture is that the dish was sizzling hot, and scores 9.5 on the CHOF scale. What I did not think of at the time is that what was served did not match the description on the menu, and the sauce, as other reviews have commented tastes a bit sweet like a sweet and sour dish. I have looked up Nawabi Kebab, and it is true, that this does not look like any Nawabi Kebab from a recipe or other menu. It was fine and tasty, and I did not have reason to complain except I am not a great lover of sweet and sour. Suffice it to say, it will remain a mystery as I would not order it again for sweet and sour reasons. Huge quantity.

For main, I had the CHEF’S SPECIAL BIRYANI of Basmati rice cooked with chicken tikka, lamb tikka, king prawn, mushrooms, peas, sultans (sic) and almonds.

This came with a medium vegetable curry. My wife asked for one that was a bit spicier, and they took her at her word. It was a bit too hot, but they did offer to replace. Huge quantities (we bagged and took away the remainder, which seemed to be the norm for the other customers) and hot (you can see the hotplate for the sauce in the background). It scored an acceptable 8 on the scale. When restaurants are full, you may have to tolerate the fact that things might have been standing around a little, but not too much. Very good and enjoyed subsequently as a take away. Interestingly, the prices on their takeaway menu are the same as the restaurant.

At the end of the meal, the hosts offered a complimentary NYE drink.

All in, it came to about £42 including a couple of beers, a raita and keema naan. Very fair. The staff were helpful and polite even though the place was full. I think we will be going there again, but will not be having the Nawabi Kebab.

Rustico Stockwell: probably amongst the best restaurant pizza.

14th December 2014
This was a celebratory lunch for my daughter, who may be defecting from Stockwell to come back to near her roots in north London. As she is almost faultless in her choice of restaurants (except they are sometimes a bit on the pricey side, and are sometime not used to older clients), I guessed I had little to worry about and came out thinking that I had had one of my best pizza experiences.
The restaurant is well reviewed elsewhere, and has a website, somewhat overstated, on http://www.rusticolondon.com/ . It is not obvious from the street, and you have to know the address, as you would not see it in passing. Wedged between two convenience stores, it looks as if it is only just being built.

Who would have guessed? It is quite small inside, and I would not consider turning up there, especially at a weekend, without a prior confirmed booking.

The front of house is staffed by someone who looks as if she could have been a retiree from the pages of Vogue, and the small team of informal staff wait on the few tables (see the gallery in the website above). It has been made to look rustic in a contrived fashion.

For starter, I had baked aubergine.

It was excellent, and tasted of cheese, tomato and aubergine, and was very hot, a 9 on the scale.

I then had the Cappriciosa pizza, topped with a mix of meats, vegetables and sausage.

This is not your average round pizza, but is as you see, on the proposed rustic wooden platter.

Suffice it to say, that it was excellent in all respects, being hot, tasty, fresh authentic tasting and sufficient in quantity that desert was not needed. A 9 on the CHOF scale also. Other pizzas sampled by our party were judged to be excellent.

I would unreservedly recommend Rustico for pizza. I cannot comment on other aspects of the menu. 

Cafe Mona Lisa, Whetstone: local cafe with restaurant potential

12 Dec 2014
The Cafe Mona Lisa has been around for years, and is a cafe by day, and restaurant by night, but does close fairly early. No web site of its own, but other information here:http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/1150/74382.php
I have been going here also for years, and originally it had no license, and you could bring your own, but now they have a license, and sell average wine at average prices.
I have only been there for dinner, but my wife and her friend are regulars for lunch and speak highly of it. They are known to the staff, so we are treated well when we go there.
The menu is driven by the specials board, which changes daily, and there is plenty of choice. The layout is fairly cafe open plan, and whilst not on full view, you can see your food prepared. This is not high level restaurant food preparation, and I guess I have never been interested enough to keep a close eye on proceedings.
For starter I chose the chicken soup which I presume was home made. It came with baguette and butter, but was unremarkable.
For main course, I had the special roast leg of veal with accompaniments.

As you can see, this is a fairly substantial portion, although the meat was a little fatty and bland, which is a characteristic of some roasts of veal if the animal is young. I guess I should should have thought about that before ordering, as it was hot at 8.1 and otherwise faultless. I think I will probably go for one of the pasta dishes next time, because there will be a next time.

The place has a friendly atmosphere, and gets busy. It closes quite early, so it is probably advisable to book. 

This is an honest place, seemingly offering what its customers want: straightforward food at straightforward prices. We will almost certainly be going there again, but the next time I will choose carefully. The prices are reasonable, with a main course costing between £8 to £12, and mostly will no need for accompaniments. There is also a set austerity menu, limited in choice but worth a punt.