Lunch Munch

A blog about Ascent Loft Conversions

2007-03-05T03:41:00.000-08:00

A friend has created a new blog called Ascent Loft Conversions Hole Blog. Please read it when you have a spare moment.

Moving to my old blog

2006-08-17T05:57:00.000-07:00

I'm having trouble making regular posts on this blog. It's so much easier to take a nap than write about it. So until further notice, future food reviews will be made on my Poker blog here.

Stop buying Sushi from Pret

2006-07-17T04:25:00.000-07:00

I just had sushi from Pret again. It wasn't too good today. Maybe I shouldn't have bought fish on a Monday, but Pret is such a standardised chain I didn't think it would make any difference. Anyway, today the sushi just didn't cut the mustard. Either that or I've been spoiled by the superiour wasabi.

Also, the price of Pret is higher than that of Wasabi. The equivalent meal from Wasabi would have been under £4.00. But the Pret sushi was priced at £4.99. Not good!

Moral of the story... Stop being lazy and go to Wasabi.

N.B. The half price deal from Mana has moved back an hour. Half price sushi is now only avaialable after 4pm. Not good.

Saliques Tandoori on Hanbury Street

2006-05-30T04:21:00.000-07:00

Saliques wasn't that good. They were just serving up average fare and living off Brick Lane's reputation.

Mirch Masala in Tooting Bec was much better.

Maryland Crab Soup for people with no Old Bay Seasoning

2006-05-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

I keep on losing my bookmarks. So here's the recipe for the soup from Spice Place Blog:

Start by heating 2 cans of low sodium beef broth and 2 cups water in a 3 quart sauce pan . While the beef broth is heating, dice 1/2 of a medium sweet onion, and 2 stalks of celery. Place the onion and celery in a non-stick frying pan, and cook them over low heat about 5 minutes. Then add the onion & celery to the beef broth, along with 1 1/2 tbsp of Old Bay Seasoning. Once the broth comes to a boil, add 1 cup frozen shoepeg corn kernels, and 1 cup bay lima beans. Allow the corn and lima beans to cook for 5 minutes, then add 1/2 pound of crabmeat. The crab meat doesn’t have to be the premium lump crab meat, but it should be cook quality such as backfin (and not claw crabmeat). Cook for another 5 minutes and serve with toased sourdough bread.

And here's the Old Bay Seasong recipe from Hub UK:

Ingredients

1 tablespoon celery seed
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
6 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon whole cardamom
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
4 whole cloves
1 teaspoon sweet hungarian paprika
1/4 teaspoon mace

Method
In a spice grinder or small food processor, combine all of the ingredients.
Grind well and store in a small glass jar.
Mix 50 : 50 with coarse salt when seasoning crabs.

Chez Bruce

2006-04-04T15:13:00.000-07:00

Took my mother and the family to Chez Bruce for a belated Mothers' Day dinner today.

The restaurant is facing Wandsworth Common, only 5 minutes walk from my new pad.

For a starter I had "Boned quail stuffed with black pudding; green beans and sauce soubise". It was OK. I was probably too common to appreciate it properly.

For main course I had a medium-rare "Chateaubriand with hand cut chips and béarnaise sauce (for two + £4.00 pp)" with my brother. It was more flavoursom than the American steaks that I'd recently consumed. However, the texture could be described as nothing more than "soggy".

Desert was a "Chocolate éclair with caramelised pears and pistachios". It was very tasty and the caramelised fruit complemented the eclair very well.

The meal for 4 cost just over £200.

http://www.chezbruce.co.uk/
A review

Fish In A Tie, Clapham Junction

2006-03-23T06:44:00.000-08:00

Went to Fish in a Tie near Clapham Junction last night. It's nice and conveniently located, about 5 minutes walk from Clapham Junction Train Station.

In terms of decor it was nice and homely. However, it is definitely a bit too cramped and cosy, as I frequently had other diners' arses right in my face.

The service was also on the slow side.

In terms of food, I had potato wedges with sour cream for starters, and steak for main. The quality was fairly standard. I probably should have been more adventurous and tried some fish, but wasn't in the mood.

Never going back to Leadenhall. Will try a place near Liverpool Street next

2006-03-14T04:33:00.000-08:00

I just had another sushi set from the place in Leadenhall. It was terrible. The rice was dry and even became hard and crunchy in places. My colleague was correct when he said that Wasabi (London Wall) is much better.

The next place that I'll be trying is somewhere near the St George's Pub that's near Liverpool Street underground station.

Sushi from Pret

2006-02-06T06:41:00.000-08:00

I had Suchi from Pret a Manger today. It is a lot more uniform than either Wasabi or Moto. While not as large as the offerings from the other two establishments, Pret's Sushi does come with LOTS more ginger. However, I'm not too big a fan of their ginger. It's too sour for my taste.

Anyway, the sushi from Pret is good stuff.

Confucius, Dim Sum in Wimbledon

2006-02-05T13:41:00.000-08:00

271 The Broadway, London, SW19 1SD
Telephone 020 8542 6904

I had some dim sum for lunch at Confucius in Wimbledon. The quality was much better than it was on my previous trip two weeks ago.

We just had the usual stuff...

The Woo Kok was excellent. The external dough was very light and crispy.

The Ha Gao were larger than usual.

The Ha Cheung Fun nice and soft. It was a bit tough and dry last time.

I'm running out of things to say now. I guess that quality can vary from visit to visit, but this dim sum restaurant is definitely worth a visit and can be more convenient than those in London's China Town.

Cheese Steak Sandwich from Subway

2006-02-04T02:51:00.000-08:00

I had a 6" cheese steak from Subway today. It was toasted, with lettuce, tomato, green peppers, red onion, and h0ney and mustard sauce.

I go there far too often and used some of my tokens to get the sandwich free, though I had to waste £1.10 on a pointless drink.

The subway I purchased my sandwich from was:

Subway
22 Bevis Marks
London
London & Greater London
EC3A 7JB

Gaucho Grill

2006-01-30T02:41:00.000-08:00

I used my web pollution fund to treat myself and a friend to a Gaucho Grill on Monday evening.

We both had medium cooked, 300g Bife de Lomo's with thin cut chips. My dining partner had his steak accompanied with Bearnaise Sauce. I had mine with Blue Cheese (Chilled) sause. As an accompaniment we had the roasted mushrooms.

The steaks were both very tender and tasty. Gaucho's do not provide diners with steak knives. The steaks are so tender that steak knives just aren't needed. My blue cheese sauce, mixed along with the steaks juices, made a sublime dip for the chips.

Unfortunately, the meal was let down slightly by the roasted mushrooms. These tasted damn good at the first bite. However, prolongued eaten revealed that they were seasonned far to strongly and probably over cooked.

This is the Gaucho Grill that we visited:

The Gaucho Grill
1 Bell Inn Yard, London, EC3V 0BL
Tel 020 7626 5180
Fax 020 7626 5181

Dim Sum!

2006-01-28T09:40:00.000-08:00

It's Chinese New Year, so my brother, his friend, and myself went for some dim sum in China Town.

We had to wait 20 minutes which wasn't too bad.

Our selection of dim sum was fairly standard fair (i.e. har gau, siu mai, prawn cheung fung, woo goh etc...). The exception was some grilled aubergines with a prawn and fish filling. It was very oily but tasted great.

I just wish I remember what the restaurant was called.

Wasabi, London Wall

2006-01-27T13:36:00.000-08:00

Had some sushi from Wasabi on London wall today.

It is different from the place in Leadenhall Market as you can pick and choose what you want.

I chose a combination involving Octopus, prawn, shrimp, grilled eel, tuna and salman.

The price for 8 pieces of raw stuff, along with ginger, soya sauce and Wasabi was £4.85. Not too bad.

In terms of quality it was definitely better than the sushi from Leadenhall. The fish seemed a bit fresher and the rice lighter and sweeter.

The next sushi review shall be from Pret.

Feeling sick!

2006-01-25T12:10:00.000-08:00

Thinking of that pie is still making me feel sick. Not good. I have work to do and can't afford to waste time vomitting!

Roast Beef Sarnies for lunch. And a Starbucks' Coffee

2006-01-25T11:59:00.000-08:00

It was Roast Beef sarnies today.

I just had it on more of that Hovis stuff along with mustard (English, Colemans). Before I moved to Balham I had a well stocked fridge. In those days I used to add a little red onion to my roast beef sarnies. Alas my fridge is a bit empty these days.

After munching away I went for a nice stroll in the city with my lawyer friend. It was freezing and we stopped off in Starbucks (the one on London Wall) for a coffee. I had a Vente Latte. The lawyer had something sweet.

Bell's Steak & Ale Pie - I feel sick!

2006-01-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

I was looking forward to some pie and chips today. Oh my god. How disappointed I was. The culprit was a Bell's Steak and Ale pie from the Sainsburys in Balham. They really had put the cheapest and nastiest cuts meat in this little monster. My first bite was rewarded with a mouthful of gristle. The rest of the meat consisted of dodgy offcuts and didn't have a particularly fresh taste.

This pie is not recommended.

Sausage Sandwhich on Hovis.

2006-01-24T02:39:00.000-08:00

On late shift today. So I made a sandwich from some cold sausages.

The sausages were Tesco's Finest Pork and Herb sausages. They're running a buy two get one free offer at the moment so I'd stocked up in the freezer.

For bread, I just used standard Hovis. It was from the freezer as I don't have a well routined life. The last batch I'd bought went mouldy in 4 days so I learned my lesson. Anyway, the frozen Hovis had to be toasted.

I spread Heinz Ketchup, Colman's mustard and margerine on it. Then I added the sliced sausages.

This would all have gone well with a nice cup of tea. But I'm out of milk. So I had Ribena instead. To accompany the meal, I watched a TV show about people going to live the high life in Spain. This couple were looking at buying a nice villa with swimming pool and guest apartment for £170k. That's under half the price of my tiny Balham pad. There was also another couple trying to open up a restaurant. The Spannish way of doing business seemed to be really frustrating. To get the restaurant license they had to physically go to the Mayor's office and have a chat to the Mayor. I have no idea who my local mayor is.

Sushi Moto @ Chamberlains

2006-01-20T05:05:00.000-08:00

Had some Sushi from Sushi Moto @ Chamberlains, 23-25 Leadenhall Market, London, EC3V 1LR. Telephone 020 7648 8690

I bought the £6.40 pack. It has good variety but the quality is a bit variable. I'll try Wasabi along London Wall next week.

Noodles and Tuna

2006-01-19T09:42:00.000-08:00

Had some Korean noodles with tuna for lunch today.

The noodles were just straight out of a packet with a random soup base. I can't read Korean and don't know the flavour. I dumped a can of tuna to mix it up and add protein to the meal. I finished off with a couple of Satsumas and a cup of tea.