But it hasn’t meant that I’ve stopped eating. Before you think that I’m wasting away, the opposite is actually the case. When I get busy, I tend to eat out more. I’ve just not had the time to review my gastronomical adventures. But now, as I’m sat on a plane back from Glasgow, with not much to do, I thought it would be a great opportunity to catch up.

I was in Glasgow for an old friend’s birthday. Now before I cause any offence, by old friend I mean one that I’ve known a while, not one that’s starting to see the effect of gravity as she knocks back a glass of sparkly to celebrate the next year of her life. As part of a weekend’s worth of festivities, we had booked a table at Fanny Trollopes, a relatively new feature of the up and coming Glasgow west-end dining scene.

Coming from London, my past experience of eating out in Glasgow has not been the most wonderful in relative terms. This is after all, the land of yellow food, deep fried pizzas and irn bru. I was ready to be pleasantly suprised.

The bistro was a cosy little place, buzzing with a mix of enthuthiastic locals on dates, celebrating like we were and generally having a night out. Everything felt right for this place, set in a thriving city with a strong, cultural and arts scene. The menu looked fantastic with some specials to boot. The service was absolutely impeccable, staff were so very helpful and you could bring your own booze – which I think is really what made this place infamous among Glaswegians.

Now, reviewing the food itself is a hard one – purely because I have the luxury of comparison to many other bistros of its kind in London. Our party of 10 got involved with a bit of everything from the menu and everything looked great. On taste, there was no cause for complaint, but there was a bit of soul lacking from what was a promising menu. It wasn’t the best meal of my life, but my fellow diners seemed well content so I guess it’s pretty good by the city’s standard.

My tuna carpaccio was as it should, but was somewhat over-powered by strong olives and sun-dried tomato accompaniment. My rump steak was nicely pan rare, but the hot, salty gravy braised the outside making it chewy when it should really melt in your mouth – and again, the taste of the fine Scottish beef hidden by the overpowering gravy. This was a contrast to the birthday girl’s steamed asparagus in filo nest, which was without sauce and tasteless as a result. But I heard the chicken supreme was superb and scallops main got some rave reviews by the locals.

The bill was equal to that of London, but mainly because of the £3 corkage charge on each bottle of wine – and admittedly, we do like a drink and with such a large party, it was inevitable.

All this said, it was a great night with great company and on occassions like these, that’s really what counts!

Some clever clogs thensuggested that we dine among the revellers at Benugo, actually in the Southbank. We were fashionably late to dine, the party had started and we were rushed to our seats with 15 minutes kitchen time to spare.

It was quite an experience. The food remarkably edible for a busy restaurant chain. Amidst the dancing chaos, service was fantastic even after what had been busy night. We recommend the cod with puy lentils, beef fillet and duck breast salad. And an applely cocktail called the Betty Davis was a great apéritif to the meal and evening in general.

By no means is this a place that I would actively seek out for a destination meal, but considering the circumstances, I thought Benugos came out rather well.

All that holiday food made me yearn for something Far Eastern in flavour… so my first meal home (second, actually – I had to make to with some M&S sandwiches at the airport last night) was that traditional oriental Sunday lunch special, Dim Sum. Our local, Shanghai is an old-school East London favourite, set in an ex-pie’n'mash shop on the Kingsland Road – retaining a lot of its original features – the marble floors and tables, lead mirrors, feature painted tiles – really something you have so see to believe. I like it because it sums me up – East meets West.

We had the classic dim-sum staples, har-gau and sieu-mai, with a scallop cheong-fun, Singapore noodles and choi-sum and oyster sauce as a something extra. We also tried some new items, like salt and pepper squid, yam puffs, wafer prawns and a sharks fin dumpling. All of which were really exquisite and really satisfied my lust for some comfort food. The place was busy with the Dalston in-crowd, Asian families and older clientele who looked like they had been coming here for years – all adding to the great atmosphere that I love about this cute little Chinese retaurant. 

And I was full of praises for Shanghai until the bill came. Now – the beauty of dim-sum is  great value. But not today – my simple meal for 2 came to nearly £45 (usually about £20) - and there was not a beer in sight. The choi-sum with oyster sauce came to nearly £8 alone! I can buy a whole forest of Choi-sum at an oriental supermarket for £8!

Sadly, it seems that inflation, infamy, popularity and perhaps a little bit of greed has taken its toll on this place. The bill was sickeningly high for what it was – and this outpost, previously famous for its local value has now joined the gastro-pub crowd in capitalising on the area’s rise to fame.  I mean, £45 is a meal out with a bottle of wine at a finer establishment. I think you could have cocktails and food at Ping Pong for less.

This upsets me… but I think this is just one of many restaurants that we are going to slowly lose to the rise of East London – and then, the clientele will just decide that there is better value elsewhere.

Each time we meet up, we try something new. The venue of choice on this occassion was Village East on Bermondsey Street – a stones throw from London Bridge Station.

Bermondsey Street is an old fashion district, with tanners warehouses and godowns serving the old docks at what is now More London Riverside, where the London assembly is. This is the heart of Southwark, one of the oldest parts of London. Naturally it provides a real loft-like, warehouse conversion ambience the sort of businesses that operate here apart from bars and restaurants are media or design oriented companies – which gives a creative buzz to the food and drink places around here.

The restaurant is a boutique gastro establishment, naturally positioned as a modern bistro, euro-French-meets-the-worldesque cuisine – but with an obvious focus on sociality.
We had the works, a shared starter of soft-shell crab, duck spring rolls, cured beef salad and scallops. Followed by a beef for four – red-meat tastic!

I must say that I was extremely impressed. There was no overdone pomp and ceremony, the food simply delicious, the service was warm and welcome. The only negative mention is the expense, definately not a credit-crunxher, but you get what you pay for. Definately make this eatery a destination, it isn’t somewhere you stumble upon – but it’s an excellent place to kick-off a night and treat yourself to a part of London that is very easily overlooked.

We started the evening with a matinée at the Criterion theatre, a spectacular underground theatre (the upper circle is on the lower ground floor) in the heart of Piccadily circus – hence It was a no brainer to venture into Chinatown, but which restaurant do you pick for a celebration? Any visitor to Gerard Street knows that there are 100s of Chinese restaurants – different ambiences, different cuisines, all telling you that they’re the best. They vary from banquet to canteen, Cantonese to schezuan, anglocised to original.

Everyone has their own favourites, but my mum and dad’s favourite, and it has been their favourite since they were students here (looking for a taste from the motherland) in the 70s, is the family owned Young Cheng. There are 3 branches in Chinatown itself; we ventured to the Lisle St restaurant. A sign that we had chosen well was the queue at the door and how Chinese diners outnumbered the tourists.

As with any Chinatown staple, there were hundreds of things on the menu, from the usual to the downright odd. We started with a prawn satay and imperial Peking duck. For mains we ordered a feast of braised eel, beef, lemon chicken, choi sum and the highlight, the curried crab special with crispy noodles.

The food was amazing. Our messy tablecloth and not much leftover was testament to the quality of food.

The restaurant was crowded and loud. The service good and simple. There are really no airs and graces here. It delivers top class Chinese cuisine, but I wouldn’t necessarily bring anyone that is expecting to be impressed by aesthetics. However anyone that appreciates good food would soon see past that and get on with it… With a dirty fingerbowl and messy tablecloth left to show.

Thoroughly recommended… After all, 2 generations of glutteratis can’t be wrong!

Image borrowed from restaurant website

We very rarely venture into Stokey – even if it’s only a short drive away. I’d forgotten how ‘Islington’ Stoke Newington is. Growing up in London, I remember when cabbies just wouldn’t take you (for fear of their lives) to this once Turkish gangland. But the area, much like the rest of East London has seen some real and fast-paced gentrification. Stoke Newington more so than my hood in Hackney, as it lies just north of the WWII blitz unloading zone ; so unlike Hackney, it still has magnificent and grand period buildings and dwellings and much less social housing.

The reason we came to Stokey was in search of a Thai restaurant I had looked up. Yum Yum – having taken over a grandiose Georgian building, is something rather ‘New York’ or even a touch of ‘Central London’ to this North East London inner-city zone. First impressions do count, the suited receptionist and waitresses and the contemporary furnishings accented with orchids and Buddhas set the tone. But take a closer look, and you’ll notice that the decor is much more ‘show-home Thailand’ – like every hotel, spa, cafe and bar around the world that tries to emulate far-Eastern zen. What was nice was that there was the opportunity to sit in special pods cut into the floor – but I guess that might be more of a weekend thing, as it wasn’t offered tonight.

The menu was extensive (and expensive) for what seemed like standard Thai ‘street’ fayre. There was also way too much choice which really contradicts the simplicity of the cuisine. Add to that the massive wine and drinks list – and the separate and well promoted dessert menu. I was tempted by a lemongrass mohito – which sounded and tasted much nicer than it looked! I felt a bit Del Boy when it arrived – perhaps I should have confined my cocktail to the bar/waiting area. On reflection, it is a bit like a holiday in Phuket!

We got involved in some Thai fishcakes and tofu satay. For mains, we had a beef panaeng and a Khao Soy (a noodle dish in a sweet curry broth). It was nice enough, but I wouldn’t say I was blown away. With the contemporary decor, I expected something REALLY special. Something like Hakkasan or Shanghai Blues… much more successful attempts to create a contemporary ambience to classic oriental cooking. Perception, expectation and the reality didn’t quite join up for me at Yum Yum. I’m not saying that the food wasn’t good, because it was… it just wasn’t AS good as I was expecting.

As we left, I looked across the Stoke Newington High Street at an empty Thai cafe/restaurant – with battered tables and chairs, coca-cola branded fridge, TV on in the background and menu clumsily scrawled on a whiteboard nailed to the wall. Something about the ambience of this place felt much more Thai – like the cafes round the food market in Krabi. And for me, this felt much more authentic than Yum Yum’s – although I wouldn’t say no to a takeaway delivered by tuk-tuk…

Yesterday’s partying started with a typically Shoreditch late-evening meal at The Great Eastern Dining Room on Great Eastern Street. We had a booth booked and our beautiful (obviously a model or actress) waitress took our order.

The food was Asian in influence, a fusion of Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese. We ordered everything from the dim sum menu, plus some salmon Tatare and the sea bass. Everything was truly delicious, a real explosion of flavours and the perfect light bite for the evening ahead. The highlight for me was the roast pork belly, simply delicious.

The ambience was typically shoreditch, a mix of glitterati and city boys. The décor however, is looking a little tired, this place has been open for a few years now, one of the pioneers that made shoreditch the destination it is now. I can’t help but think that this venue has lost its edge a little – although the restaurant has survived because of its excellent cuisine. But the upstairs bar and downstair music venue was rather lacking in glamour, once rammed on any night, now with empty tables and a more ‘townie’ crowd, more characteristic to a night out in Kingston or Loughton than daringly-glam shoreditch.

I think the crowds have just moved on… True to shoreditch, fashion n being seen in the right places is what it’s all about – and the draws of the hundreds of new and ever evolving eating n drinking establishments that’s blossomed in the area over the last few days, weeks, months and years have taken its toll on the Great Eastern’s competitive advantage.

Image borrowed from pub's website

Quite unexpectedly, just as I was cutting up some veg for dinner in, I got a text from a neighbour asking if we fancied a cheeky beer (what turned out to be 4!) and some dinner. Aforementioned veg quickly got cling-filmed and back in fridge, coat on and off we went into the night.

We opted for the Cat and Mutton - in its previous life a old-man’s boozer that has been transformed into a trendy gastro establishment. The Cat and Mutton in its current form has been around for quite a while now and has grown in popularity and size (upstairs has changed from a photographer’s studio to allow more punters in), along with the growth of Broadway Market as a destination. In summer months – crowds of people swarm round the outside, coming from all over London (and beyond).

I have a Taste London card – a must have for any glutterati – it gives you 2 for 1 on meals in off-peak times at a large number of restaurants, which proved to be a fantastic bargain for the expensive gastro prices and good food. Technically, it’s at the manager’s discretion, but I’ve never had a problem in the Cat and Mutton – they’ve always been really accommodating and helpful. I’m aware that once upon a time, the chef had a bit of a temper and would ‘zone-out’ early on a busy night (which tends to be most nights), but even then – we were looked after with a free bottle of wine for our troubles.

The menu changes often, which is great for somewhere like this, because it creates new news each time – and the Cat and Mutton is famed for their one-off events – like oyster evenings… fantastic news for punters – and even more encouraging, as it shows that the management are constantly working hard to try new things, unlike the Dove up the road (see previous review). This is really refreshing for a Gastro-, as it shows a completely integrated approach to restauranting.

The meal was fantastic – not much choice for vegetarians, but they are catered for – and potential greeny punters should be aware that vege meals are as expensive as the meat and fish ones . Venison, Rump Steak and  Linguine was on the cards – generous portions and high quality – applause all round.

The atmosphere buzzy – open-plan, no-dining room, crowded-chic is really great high-energy experience that I like, but perhaps not for everyone. This isn’t really the place to come for a quiet meal – you have to shout to be heard. It’s always crowded (testament to the concept’s success), but generally you’ll get a table if you’re willing to wait or ring in advance. It just works – having an extremely busy ‘Friday night’ pub atmosphere in the same room as diners doesn’t sound like it should, but it really does.

Much like Leon, the restaurant itself was an identical twin, triplet, quadruplet (and the rest) of the one I had been to before. The waitress came over to have a chat and told us that we had to order at the bar. And then took our order for drinks – a little odd, I thought – perhaps a staff-time-saving measure – but as she was doing drinks and then brought our drinks, and then served our food and then came to find out if it was alright – it just seemed a weird thing to do everything that a waitress does, apart from actually take our food order. Must be company policy – but they are actually really doing their staff out of tips!

I ordered a satay burger, topped in a peanut sauce - and it was delicious – accompanied by chucky fries and washed down with a mango smoothie. It was remarkably filling (which was the objective, I guess) and now I feel rather piggy, but smugly content! I am happy to report that I had the same experience as before – it was actually very good and worth all of the half-price that I paid for it. Thumbs up!

Leon, Spitalfieds - image borrowed from Leon website

What is it about the east-end and its lack of cash-points? Anyone who enjoys wandering the markets of Spitalfields, Brick Lane, Truman and Columbia on any given Sunday will know that it is near impossible to get cash to support local artisans, foodsters and buskers (which seem to be what’s pulling the crowds these days – it’s amazing how tribal our instincts are, that we still enjoy watching an unshaven caveman type, albeit in a trilby, bashing the hell out of a set of toy drums). Probably good for our wallets considering we’re in a credit crunch.

Rather annoyed by the 20-long queues at the cash-machine (which incidently, charges for the transaction) we passed on the calls of Sunday Upmarket’s global food stalls to somewhere that will take my debit card.

Cue the chain eateries that has, in my opinion, sucked the soul out of old Spitalfields market – now a glass and steel market that looks like a mini-Westfield. Unfortunately, many of London’s markets are going that way. To some extent, I agree that structurally, many of these old markets need better infrastructure and general health and safety, but unfortunately, with that comes sky-rocketing rents and chains.

So, Leon – we had the dog, so we took up a table outside. The staff were very helpful and accommodating. The food, was pretty good for a chain – and healthy as well. We had the fishcakes (on reflection realising that we were subliminally prompted by point-of-sale both outside and inside the restaurant)  and a Leon Gobi – a sweet curryish dish. There was something very ‘organic’ about the place, but as a marketer, I know that this is all in the branding and the ‘customer experience’ they want to achieve.

Despite being good, there was part of me that knew the same was available in the markets, and I felt a bit guilty for supporting corporate Spitalfields and not those hardworking individual stallholders – perhaps the lack of cash machines is all one big ploy.

On the way home, I did manage to jangle up some change from the depths of my pocket to buy a fantastic, chunky piece of banana cake from the cake-stall in Sunday Upmarket. Thoroughly recommend this stall, next to the Tibetian Momo dumpling place (also recommended). Guilt over!