Vinoteca - Soho

Vicoteca Soho


                           




I was looking for somewhere relaxed with some good old fashioned grub.nothing fancy, just good food and good wine.
 I have this fear of choosing somewhere lame, I like to think (especially since I work in the food industry) that I can pick the diamonds from the rough when it comes to restaurants, on this occasion I used not only my knowledge but also the not so trusty tripadvisor reviews to give me some false confident in tonight's selection.

Lets start with the positives, I know that Vinoteca sources good quality produce, that's for sure, I also know that the Farringdon branch is extremely highly spoken amongst foodies in London, the restaurant is relaxed and their range of wine is fantastic, there's a massive selection and some good value wines included, we paid only £19.00 for our bottle which was delicious, sadly the positives end there.
  I started with a spring vegetable salad with quails eggs pleasant enough but tight on the good bits, I only had one quails egg which just wasn't enough to compliment my vegetables. Nice but not going to remember this one. For main I had the Dover sole with Caper butter with sides of spinach and new potatoes, now I can't knock the caper butter it was tasty and rich and the sole was cooked well and obviously fresh, my partners Lamb was okay but again very dull, so you may now be wondering what my big issue with Vinoteca Soho is right? well it was just all so meh, excuse my lack of vocabulary,just can't think of a better way of describing the overall feeling.I couldnt help but think how I could make this all at home just as good and for a fraction of the price, now I appreciate the rustic-ness, I was quite looking forward to it! And I'm aware Vinoteca aren't selling themselves as fine dining, but if so why did I pay £120.00 for a very average meal?! The other issue was the service,don't get me wrong our waitress was very efficient, drinks were topped up, orders were taken swiftly but so much so that she seemed rushed and a bit panicky, it was a bit off putting when you're trying to relax.

I feel slightly guilty as Vinoteca didn't do anything majorly wrong, but they also didn't do anything majorly right.
Go to Picture as a reliable option for wholesome food at decent prices or Apero at the Ampersand hotel.


Wine: 9/10
Food: 5/10
Service: 6/10
Ambiance: 5/10

http://www.vinoteca.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/todays-menu-soho.pdf

TING LOUNGE - SHANGRI LA - SHARD

TING

Chicken with Apricot and Tea 

                                                              Chocolate and Pistachio

                                                   Teriyaki Halibut and Spring vegetables

                                                     Strawberry Panna cotta and meringue

                                                                    arrrrrrrrrr romantic.....

                                                                     My bags chair


Ting Lounge :

Go here if : You are celebrating something special - want delicious classic cuisine- love a room with a view - would like to go to the toilet in front of London.

Don't go here if: You're on a budget.

Tips: The view from the Ting lounge is better than in Ting restaurant and is more laid back, you can request the Ting restaurant menu in the lounge, so you don't miss out!
When you go to the bathroom wait for the window toilet , its pretty special. I spent a lot of time in the toilet that night. (you'll see what I mean).

2 mains
2 Desserts
1 bottle wine
2 cocktails

£160.00

Food: 10/10
Service: 9/10
Ambiance: 7.5/10
Value for money: 8/10 (it is worth the prices, I promise you)

This place really is a treat, but exactly that for us folk with normal wages.
Take someone special here as a surprise, it will not fail to impress, they have all the special touches of 5 star hotel service, and you don't feel out of place just because you're not in the rich bracket of custom.
The food pleasantly surprised me, just because many places with a view in London are said to be a bit crap.
My dish of chicken,tea and apricot will not be forgotten in a hurry.
Another great thing about Ting is that we wasn't rushed at all, many popular places in London have a 1.5/2 hour turn around which to be booted out your seat when you've just parted with £200.00 is a bit bloody rude in my opinion. Somehow London doesn't seem to have cottoned on to Ting. I haven't seen any write ups fro the top reviewers ... seems we're not being told my the Evening standard that this is the hottest new place to be seen,no pr machine or trendy owner to drag the celebs in. Oh well, lets keep it all to ourselves.


http://www.ting-shangri-la.com/

FISCHERS

FISCHERS - MARYLEBONE

All the main reviewers have just been banging on about Corbin and King and how if anyone can pull off Austrian cuisine in London they can ... they owned the Ivy and ... blah , blah , blah
Can't be arsed to tell you the back history of the owners and I'm sure of you aren't to fussed about hearing it either
What we really should be talking about is Fischers as its own restaurant and the food!

It really feels like you are somewhere else in here, I would say Austria but I've never been so how would I know, just feels foreign , in a good way, also slightly like you've gone back in time, again in a good way.
 At first the room was really quiet, until it started filling out, it has this opulent yet relaxed feel about it , luxurious without being stiff. The staffs demeanour is attentive but not involved, they don't talk current affairs and the weather with you. Can't be a bad thing can it.

As always I knew what I was having before arriving , and I didn't change my mind.
The beef broth with cheese dumplings for starter and the grilled spatchcock chicken with Tarragon for main with buttery mash as the side.
The Beef broth was ridiculously good , really rich and well, beefy. Very generous too, there was a surprise lump of braised beef at the bottom, I'm drooling a bit thinking about it. Choose this as your starter, you can't go to Fischers and not have this, my partner had the kaestpatzle which is mac and cheese, it was delicious but he blatantly wanted my beef broth, unlucky.

They had already provided us with some complimentary soda bread, which I'm thankful for, however its not needed. I'm already starting to feel full  and I'm no food pansy, I have a BIG appetite.
Next the mains, if you don't like Tarragon I wouldn't opt for the chicken, its smothered in it. No problem for me as I love it but just be warned as it is overpowering. My side of  buttery mash was also yummo.

My partner had the Braised beef, on this occasion although my chicken was good, I was feeling slightly jel of his selection, it came with a caramelized carrot which was delicious, how these chefs make simple veg taste so bloody amazing is just inspiring, an apple sauce sat on top of the beef and a jug of gravy accompanied, they also asked if we'd like any sauce , mustard etc .... how brilliant is that, you'd get slapped in most restaurants for even asking. well maybe not but they would if they was allowed I'm sure, just for the crack.

The wine was chose by no logic apart from it being French , had the word Macon in it and was three down on the list and cost £24.00 . How we got to the decision doesn't really matter as the main thing is that it was a good one.

Now I'm so full its silly, but I had to go one last hurdle for the apple Bread and butter pudding.
It came with Meringue on top, not needed , it was sweet enough, it had Calvados in the filling which was lush and it was more like layered crepes than bread , very tasty but I just long for someone to give me a standard old fashioned bread and butter pudding, I don't think classic puds need sexing up, hey, that's just my opinion it was still very good and if I wasn't so full I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more.

sorry about this one........

So to conclude ,I think this place is fantastic . I really do like it and considering the food that I'm used to eating (non-exotic cuisines) generally fail to impress me in restaurants that means a lot. 

The bill came to £104.00 including service, so that's two three course meals with wine for a oner , thats bloody good value for this type of venue in London, I promise you. 

I really want to go back to Fischers, and considering even if I like a restaurant going back is not as a rule on the agenda as there are so many new places in London to try. 

Fischer's is Classy, informal and brilliant, a bit like me :0 well that's what I'm aiming for.  

Service 7.5/10

Food    8/10

Ambiance 9/10

Value for money 9/10

       

GYMKHANA

I have been very disappointing lately . I haven't updated my blog for some time,  yet I have plenty of new places to tell you all about. I'm blaming the lethargy from all the eating and booze.
 So the most recent Restaurant visit was Gymkhana , the new Indian restaurant in Mayfair , sister to Michelin star Trishna in Marylebone. All the big gun reviewers have given Gymkhana glowing reviews.
 I absolutely adore Indian cuisine and dining in Mayfair makes me feel like a don , I'm in.
      The only available table when making my booking was for 6:00pm , since I was planning some disco dancing in Soho afterwards for a friends birthday , 6:00pm worked fine for me .
 Now I'm no Kelly Hoppen , I cant talk interior lingo to you but put it this way the dining room is sexy and not a dud table in sight ?!

 Me and my partner are curry mad , like many of us English folk I suppose. We had been salivating over the menu for a good week now, I as always had been a sad bastad and planned what I'm having already , takes the fun away I'm told. Its a bad habit what can I say.
 We ordered a bottle of the Indian Wine from the menu , which I have read will be becoming more popular in the coming years , it was beautiful and at £30 happy days !
  We ordered the Chicken Wings , Mussels and Dosa (fermented crepe) duck to start , all delicious. Wow the Mussels made me like Mussels ,seriously I have always thought they were pretty horrid little things,  mini fanny looking bullets that taste like the sea and not in a good way, but no I have been officially converted ! They came in a spiced coconut sauce which you could eat like a soup when your tasty little fanny looking lovelies had come to an end. The duck dosa was also lovely but gone in two bites.
 Mains -  SUCKLING PIG VINDALOO sounded too good to be true .
Sadly it was , well its unfair of me really as I haven't ever had a 'Vindaloo' in India but how would I , wasn't Vindaloo accustomed to our taste or was that Tikka Masala?  anyway maybe this is authentic and Ive become too accustomed to my favourite curry house's version , ... but yes nice just not as mind blowing as I had hoped .
 I had fortunately chose the Tandoori Guinea Fowl , which was very tasty indeed. Came with this lovely Crispy accompaniment . Yummo .
(I've stole this picture from Daily mail , the dish looked just like their picture so there was no need for me to look like an arse taking photos of my dinner in Mayfair).




I must say I wasn't as full as I like to have been , but then you could say I didn't order enough.  We did'nt bother with dessert as none of them appealed to my taste , kings of spice but not of desserts.
 We opted for after dinner cocktails instead which were actually disappointingly pretty crap. I had The spice monopoly which read like a cocktail dreams are made of  :
    'The Spice Monopoly
House spiced rum daiquiri and coconut milk & orange blossom ice cream.
The clean, fresh flavours of rum, Indian lemon & sugar have been
overhauled & accompanying them is a rich yet refreshing ice cream'

Hmmm . The icecream on the side was just for theatre it added nothing , the drink tasted like absinthe . yes absinthe , I hate absinthe , if you like it you are either a)Lying to sound cool b)Nuts.
I was trying to hide my disappointment , did'nt want to be a knob about it however once my partner pulled at face at his choice I couldn't keep up the pretence .

His choice:

Respect your Alder
Cognac with toasted cumin seed & mango syrup. Made as an Old
Fashioned stirred and brought to your table in an alder wood chip
smoked decanter.

 tasted like water with a drop of brandy, 

So  to conclude . I loved the room , the service was very good, the food was delicious , slightly lacking in areas but not enough to say it wasn't all expertly cooked, just a matter of me building up a too higher expectations in my head due to reviews and drooling over the menu on a daily basis. 

 And yes I do love my local curry house . A lot. Maybe I am just a commoner after all , maybe I have no idea what Vindaloo should actually taste like , but I do know when a cocktail lasts me longer than five minutes it was just not as tasty as I wanted it to be. 

Service 7/10

Food 7/10

Ambiance 8/10

Cocktails 2/10

Price : 

£140.00

Three starters 

Two mains 

Two sides 

Bottle of wine 

Two cocktails 

12.5 service . 

STOP WASHING YOUR CHICKEN !

I have been going on and on and on for years telling people they do not need to wash their chicken .
I have never washed a chicken in my life , nor has my mother who fed me for most of it and quess what ... Im STILL ALIVE and I have never ever had food poisioning.

Then I did a Hygiene in Food safety course a few years back and was educated on the reason why we dont wash our Chickens .
It spreads bacteria via the water all over your kitchen . Yep. No restaurant worth its onions would allow the washing of chickens to take place in the kitchen,  infact its against regulations .
A COMPLETE NO NO.

So the next time you go to wash your slimy breasts . STOP and remember you are spreading germs that will later give you the shits and youll call in sick to work and lose a days wages . THINK.

I have posted this informative and fasinating video below ...






So guys if you know someone who is washing their chickens educate them to prevent their bacteria spreading ways.

Together we can put an end to people all over the world from washing their Chickens.

Twisted Sister - I Wanna Rock (Official Video)

Just Because.

Gastrobar @ The Ohla Hotel

GastroBar 

Ohla Hotel Via Laitana 49

I've read that there's currently an big trend in Barcelona for 'Gastrobars' which is effectively fine dining Tapas.

 Im In.   

The fancy Tapas restaurant in question is Gastrobar inside the Ohla hotel. 

Jesus Christ do I wish I was staying in this hotel . Its Beautiful. 

I was eyeing it up when we was booking our hotel , but a grand for 3 nights was slightly over budget :O okay a lot over budget. If you have got the bucks stay there !  It has a infinity pool on the rooftop that makes me want to touch myself ..

Look at that , wow . I could cry. 

Anyway I didn't stay there so Ill just have to get over it . 

I did get to eat in their lovely Gastrobar , I had a good feeling about it , my one concern was the atmosphere and of course hotel restaurants in 5 stars hotels even with stars of their own are notoriously a bit crap. 

Some one had wrote a trip advisor review moaning about the above . 

Good Job I didn't take those comments on board . 

They have a open kitchen which we all love don't we , for obvious reasons (we'd be able to catch them picking their nose ) so lets call that hygiene trust issues and also because the chefs can see us , I'm sure seeing happy faces scoffing your grub must be for any chef working a double shift. Encouragement. 

I managed to choose a fantastic wine this time , a Chardonnay which was 26 Euro for the bottle (very reasonable ) called Enrique Mendoza from Valencia . I'm not getting nerdy on you , I kept the cork so Id remember the wine. It was that nice. 

The staff were cool , present when you need them but no pestering . To be expected but not always the way it goes. After taking our sweet time deciding what tapas combo we was to order , with my encouragement we came to a conclusion. I'm indecisive in most areas of life except when it comes to my stomach and what I want to put in it. 

First came Provolone with Cherry Tomatoes and Fresh Bread . We was advised earlier that the portions are bigger than your average tapas portions . Still ordered 7 dishes. 

The provolone . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yea I choose good there , bloody delicious 

  

We also stuffed in some croquettes , classic tapas choice.

Next came the our meat tapas , they brought dishes in twos as opposed to all at once like a most tapas bars do , which was perfect as that way everything is still hot . 

We had Lamb Neck , Iberian Pork and Veal . Lamb neck melted in your mouth , it came shredded with salad .The Iberian pork I could happily eat all day although my heart wouldn't be as happy about that I'm sure. 

Veal - I Don't get it , it was the first time I had tried it , tasted nice don't get me wrong but definitely not any better than a mature cow  , SO WHY is there celebrities such as Gordon Ramsey and Janet Street Porter Urging us to eat more Veal. ???? I understand if an animal is killed it shouldn't ever go to waste , but if that's the case why are you killing them in the first place ? Maybe I know sweet F all about this subject , please enlighten me ...... 

I enjoyed every bite of everydish we had . I was looking forward to dessert now..... 

is it going to be a fullhouse ???

YES . 

Best Chocolate Fondant I have ever eaten , and we have ordered a few over the years . Wasn't overly sweet, sickly or cakey . Do you like my use of descriptive food words, Move over Jay Rayner . 

It was so lush . As was the Icecream and Sorbets,

The atmosphere was perfect for couples or anyone wanting to catch up , even though every table was full , it wasn't loud , I could hear everything my partner was saying not what the table next to us was. It was strange , must be the design , the restaurant has a high ceiling and the tables are all curved around so everyone has a window seat. 

The other brilliant fact about this place is there was no 'you're finished now , we want you out' feel about it . Living in London I am SICK of being made to feel like you need to piss off when you're edging closer to the end of your two hour slot. Yes you are always pre-warned of this , but seriously in Tapas restaurants?! Kind of defies the point of Tapas in my opinion. 

A good is example of this is Tapas Brindisa . I love Tapas Brindisa's food but the time slot paranoia the staff have , staring over a you to see where you're at with your Chorizo every 5 minutes really is a big turn off. DID YOU HEAR THAT LONDON!? STOP IT. 

We grabbed La Cuenta and looked at the damage ... 96 Euros . Wow , I'm even happier now . Thought we had easy gone way over 100 .. that 96 included 7 share-able tapas dishes , one bottle of wine , two desserts , bread and service . We left a 20 euro tip. Then the lady serving us for most of the evening , brought the bill  back , I'm thinking did we work that out wrong ,arrrr embarrassing . Nope she came to notify us that we had left 20 euros and it was a very large tip , and was we sure !

Course we was sure ! What a lovely touch to end the meal. I'm not that naive that I don't think it could be a clever trick to leave customers really happy and appreciated but even still! I have never left a restaurant so happy. 

No one has EVER been so appreciate of a tip . EVER . 

I highly recommend this place .

 Just to note:  This isn't a biased review where the results of being in such a good mood that I'd have been elated even if presented with some cheese on toast. I was actually in a crappy mood this day and this place turned it around something not many things or people can do too easily . :)