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A Pub with Food: The Devonshire Arms

37 Marloes Road
W8 6LA
Tel: 020 7937 0710

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, April 22nd

The Victims: Kristi, Adrien

The Damage: Unknown because they paid and I forgot to pay them back.

I hadn't seen K&A in ages, and if you consider that 10 years ago, K was literally in shouting (and throwing) distance from me, just a bunkbed away, I was going through withdrawal! So we made a plan to meet up.

K&A spent the afternoon climbing the white cliffs of Dover. I myself engaged in such similar strenuous endeavors. Armed with only my Persil tablets and Bounce Summer Breeze--imported directly from my country--I successfully conquered five (English) loads of laundry, an endeavor worthy of many pints of beer in the finest of English establishments. (Don't even get me started on English washing machines. I can't believe that English women can put up with the abysmal size of these things. )

Being a balmy night, we enjoyed a few Carlings in the great outdoors at the Devonshire Arms. We had a little table, tucked into the corner of the outdoor patio. It was perfect. Being worn out from all my folding, I sent K&A in to order my sustenance. There was only one directive: no carbs. They returned, triumphant, having successfully ordered me chicken skewers. As it turned out, I could have had the burger, because the Devonshire was out of buns. (And apparently, it was not possible to ask one of the local convenient stores to supply the same.) K&A's burgers arrived, bunless, and I was jealous.

My chicken skewers were good. Not great. Just good. Not bad. But just not so hot otherwise. But my beer was cold and the outdoor patio was delightful.

The Verdict: Food is serendiptous. Just go for the beer and the patio.

Affordable Thai: Thai Silk

103-105 Waterloo Road
SE1 8UL
Tel: 0207 633 9886

Date of Last Visit: Friday, April 21, 2006

The Victims: Al, Louise, and Al's brother Dave

The Damage: 18 quid each with drinks.

Al & Louise invited me out to the National Theatre to see a play they couldn't remember the name of, and they didn't know whether it would be good or bad. But we did know that we were in the 1st row; I have this problem were I can only pay attention at plays when I'm in the first few rows, so this was a good thing. (I think I read one too many Richard Scary books as a child, and am thus obsessed with analyzing the details, which you can't see from the balcony.)

Game for an adventure, I said yes to their kind invitation, and they suggested pre-theatre dinner at Thai Silk, right across from Waterloo station.

Thai Silk is so super-convenient to Waterloo that I almost didn't see it. It's seriously right across the street from the main Tube station exit.

The plan was to meet at 5:45; Thai Silk has a set menu for 7.95 per person from 5 to 7--minimum of two people. We went for that and got pretty much everything on the menu except for the pork.

Our starters were tasty because they were super deep-fried. As in fishcakes and spring rolls  and undefined deep-fried substance. Heart attack. But delicious nonetheless.

The mains were copious...there was monk fish in curry sauce, chicken in curry sauce, beef in some sort of sauce, and another type of beef. We had some yummy noodles and then the obligatory jasmine rice.

We were stupid and ordered wine by the glass instead of the bottle, so if you figure we each had two glasses of wine each, well, we wasted some money. This added much to our bill which should have otherwise been reasonable.

The Verdict: A good pre-National Theatre option. Not a destination, but a convenient and good-value choice. Watch your cholesterol and stay away from the wines by the glass.

Yes, More Sashimi: Satsuma

56 Wardour Street
W1D 4JG
Tel: 0871 3328575

Date of Last Visit: 9 April 2006

The Victims: Aroma, Tony

The Damage: 15 quid each

Aroma is my friend from b-school. Her real name is Xuefang, which means "special scent" in Chinese. Hence Aroma. I've never asked Tony what his real name is. I find this bizarre--this changing names thing. Like Geneva. Why is it Genf auf Deutsch? Or Vienna, so pretty in English. Auf Deutsch, it's Wien (pronounced Veen). Why can't you have one name and just stick with it? Apparently there's one guy in the US government whose job it is to decide what we call things. Hence in the old days, Turino was always Turin. But those Olympics--now we're all calling it Turino.

So I met up with Aroma at Satsuma for a little sashimi before they headed off to Shanghai for a couple of weeks. Strangely, as I entered Satsuma, I realized I eaten there before. Apparnetkly, I didn't write about it though. I vaguely remember why--the bathrooms. They were TERRIBLE. However, I must admit I did not revisit them this time.

Anyhow, Tony and I went with the Sashimi--Tony got the Bento Box though--and Aroma had the Yaki Soba. Oh, how I love Yaki Soba. It's so tasty and delicious and full of good things. I love it, but Dr. Atkins doesn't (yes, he's back) so there you go. Sashimi for me please.

My sashimi was tender and delicious. I had a weird moment with the one little shrimp I had. It was just too soft. I worried all day about getting food poisoning. But I survived! So I will not hold that against Satsuma. But everything else was a-ok. The green salad had a whole lot of avocado in it, though.

The Verdict: It was good. Not my favorite, atmosphere-wise--a bit sterile. And our waitress had a ring through her nose and it was so distracting. But all in all, not so bad.

There's Never Enough Sashimi: Blossom

37 Hoxton Square
N1 6NN
Tel: 020 7729 4948

NOTE THAT BLOSSOM HAS CLOSED! FRESSEN--bar food--IS NOW IN ITS PLACE.

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, April 1

The Victim: Me

The Damage: 15 quid

Back in my previous life, I used to meet my friend Andrew for sushi on weekend afternoons. We'd go to this little place called Kabuki on Clark Street, half-way between his apartment and mine. They were always so happy to see us there. We'd each get a sushi combo and a Kirin and stare at the sushi chefs as they made all types of great things. Alas, our little Kabuki closed down and was replace by a Kabuki two times the size, so it lost some of its original charm. But it's still tasty.

Memories. Anyhow, my point is that this was a good routine, and sometimes I miss it. So as I have my life back after three months of weekends indoors, staring at my PC, I decided to wander over to Blossom before my manicure and pedicure. (Andrew is now married to a flight attendant and living in Ohio, btw.)

There was hardly anyone in there for a Saturday afternoon, which was sad. I was waited on right away and just went for some tuna and salmon sashimi, a miso soup, and some gomae. Or at least, I'd call it gomae. (Spinach in a peanuty sesame sauce.) Blossom called it something besides, like okihashi or similar. Regardless, it was very tasty.

So my only prob with Blossom was that the menu wasn't very big. I wanted to see Rainbow rolls and Dragon rolls and all sorts of fun stuff. There were a couple of sushi combos, a couple of rice dishes, and a couple of BBQ items. That was it. (OK, I'm probably drastically understating. But you know what I mean. The menu...it just wasn't very complex.)

The Verdict: Would I go back? Well, given that my only convenient sushi options are Yo! and Blossom, Blossom is sure bet.

They're Everywhere: Maroush IV

68 Edgware Road
London W2 2EG
020 7224 9339

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, March 19

The Victims: Brian, Sarah, Bernard, Rafa, Anna, Dan, Simone, Damien, Suneeta, Aroma, Tony, Barry, Chris Evelien

The Damage: Really reasonable. A feast, for something like 14 quid each (no alcohol).

Brian and I had planned on brunch for about 8 people. If we were lucky. As usual, I was on time, and everyone else was not. Brian arrived about 15 minutes later, followed by Aroma and Tony. We grabbed a spot at Maroush IV. Please note that there are quite a few Maroush's around Edgware Road. Make sure you've got the right one. We were in the one on the corner.

Well, at 2:30 p.m., we were 6, and by 3 p.m, we were 10 and then at 3:30, we were 13. The poor waitstaff remained pleasant throughout, even though we were pains. They get points for that.

We put Chris in charge of ordering, and he did a fine job as always. Lots of hummous and babaganoush and that special deep fried cheese that's oh so good, but so, so, so bad. Ah yes, the labda, which I've written about before. I love Labna. (Is it cheese or is it yogurt?) Chris also ordered us up some meat ball things and some sort of shish kebab like meat. My least favorite part was the meat that looked like parma ham. I normally like everything, but it really was too strong tasting.

Lots of people enjoyed freshly squeeze fruit juice throughout their meal. Sarah was suspicious about how freshly squeezed it would be, but was highly complimentary of her juice when it arrived.

At the end of our meal, they brought us out all these delicious Lebanese pastries. Like baklava, only tinier and more delicious. When we left the restaurant, there were still a few sitting there and I really just wanted to scoop them all into my pocket, they were so, so good. I'm still thinking about them, two weeks later. Lovely.

The Verdict: You can't go wrong with any of the Maroushes.

Ah, Espana: Cantaloupe

32 Charlotte Road
EC2A 3PD
Tel: 020 7613 4411

Date of Last Visit: Thursday, March 23

The Victims: Too many to mention

The Damage: Not so bad! "Just" 30 quid a head.

Cantaloupe was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a tapas restaurant. Small little tables, dim lighting, maybe some spanish guitar playing in the background.

Cantaloupe is a bar. I must not be the only other person puzzled by this because at the front of the bar is a relatively large sign pointing you to the restaurant.

The bar is fun though. On a Thursday night, relatively early (7:30 ish) it was packed in a good way.

Being me, I told my guests the booking was at 7. It was really at 7:30. This is good because no one showed up until 8 p.m. anyhow, despite Feathers best efforts. (Thank you Feathers.)

It always makes me nervous to take people from a specific country to a restaurant in a different country that matches their origins. So I was a little nervous about sitting across from Javier; Javier is from Spain. I wanted Javier to like Cantaloupe!

The good news is he did! He loved the platter for two, which was really more like a platter para tres, there was so much jamon and queso. And he loved the Rioja, which he was originally suspicious about because it was organic. But heck, organic doesn't necessarily mean "tastes bad," right?

Now let me just take a moment to share some of my recently acquired knowledge about Rioja. Did you know that there are three main types? These are clearly labeled on the bottle, and should be such on the restaurant wine list as well. If not, then you might be drinking a Rioja-wannabe; that is, the Spanish Wine Authorities have not certified it as a Rioja. Here's the breakdown...

* Vino de Crianza:   Wine in its third year, matured for at least one year in oak cask.

* Reserva:  Carefully selected wines, aged for at least three years, of which at least one is in oak cask.

* Gran Reserva:   Belongs to great vintage´s wines which have been aged at least two years in oak cask and three years in bottle.

What else can I tell you? Javier gave Cantaloupe two thumbs up and told me it was a great place. He also told me I am a dangerous person. Aren't I, though?

Javier gave Cantaloupe two thumbs up because he liked his main, which escapes me at the moment. Me, on the other hand, thought my main had been confused with Fido's dinner. (And that's not Fido as in Fidelity Investments, dorks.) It was totally gross. Uggh. I don't even want to think about it, that's how gross it was. Uggh. Uggh. Uggh. I think it was the Argentinian Beef thingie. Not the steak, but the casserole. YUCK. Gross. Double-yuck.

The Verdict: You know, I'd actually go back. I just wouldn't eat. Or I'd stick with the platter of nibbley things.