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My Sushi Heaven: Pham

155 Whitecross Street
EC1Y 8JL
Tel: 020 7251 6336

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, June 28th, 2006

The Victims: Ben, Gerry

The Damage: 20 quid a head

The Background: You may have read all about my love of sushi on Sunday afternoons. I imagine that 30 years from now, I'll meet up with Andrew in an airport and we'll make plans for Sunday sushi somewhere spectacular.

You may have read about my trip to Blossom. (Since closed, and replaced by a place called Fressen, which was so terrible that I didn't even bother to write about it.) And you may know about my conveyor belt thoughts. And my love of Kulu Kulu. And you may understand that on Sunday afternoons, I do sometimes sit in my apartment, deciding to Yo! or not to Yo!

My quest has ended. Close to home. I may live in peace now.

See, back in May, my Dad and I were wandering around the 'hood and saw the Waitrose truck go by. There's a new Waitrose on Whitecross Street, very exciting. So I made an expedition, and discovered two fantastic things on my way to Waitrose:

10 quid manicures! 20 quid pedicures!!!

And a Japanese restaurant!!! Called Pham.

And then, just a few days later, I was over on Gastrochick's Blog and saw that she had been to Pham and recommended it highly. So the deal was clinched. I was going to Pham. And soon. So Ben, Gerry and I headed over to Pham earlier this evening.

The Starters: After a short wait, we got a table by the door and dug into Edamame! And deep-fried squid! And spicy little appeteasers. And Asahis and some HOT SAKI!!! (I didn't drink the Hot SAK!!! I just like to say HOT SAKI!!!) Fantastic.

We asked our waitress for recs and she suggested the crunchy tuna roll. Ben and Gerry wanted a spicy tuna roll. And I wanted some Nigiri. And a Dragon Roll! Always exciting. We ordered everything. And more.

And it (everything) arrived on a really big plate and our eyes were like saucers. And we ate. And ate. And then we ate some more. And it was good. Very very good. So good we kept looking at each other and just saying "Yummmm." And "This is goooooooood." And "I am so happy, and it's just a Wednesday." And that crunchy role--it was just so wonderful and delicious with just that perfect little bit of crunchiness. I wish I could remember what was in it. Apparently, it's "off the menu." I am just so trendy--stop it!

We ordered take-out menus, and I saw the delivery man and told him I'd see him soon. In fact, I think I'll see him tomorrow. And the next night. And the night after that. With some crunchy rolls.

The Verdict: Go here. It's not a destination, but if you like sushi and don't like your sushi joints fussy, this is the place for you. Really. I mean it.

Lisbon Food/Drink Recommendations?

Julie and I have just booked a girls' weekend in Lisbon for the August bank holiday. We need some recommendations for where/what to eat and drink. Here's what I'm looking for...

1. The cutest, nicest food market in Lisbon. Good photo opps preferred.

2. The perfect outdoor picnic locale. A place where the rest of Lisbon picnics. Plus what we should buy at the market for our Portuguese picnic.

3. A few lunch locales. I'm thinking friendly, casual, decently priced. Sunny. A place where we can spend a couple of hours writing postcards, meeting random locals, etc.

4. A few dinner locales. Nothing that will break the bank. I'm thinking a super-friendly place where we probably need a booking, where the tables are crammed together and locals will overhear us talking and adopt us for the rest of the evening. This may be a pipe dream, but it's happened before so I remain optimistic. Also, someplace close to post-dinner drink locales. We are not clubbers. We are loungers.

5. A good place to sample many different varieties of Portuguese wine and port. Do tasting rooms exist?

Many thanks.

Meat Overload: Rodizio Rico

111 Westbourne Grove
W2 4UW
Tel: 0871 332 3831

Date of Last Visit: Friday, June 23, 2006

The Victims: Kristi, Adrien

The Damage: 28 quid each

The Set Up: K&A are not huge fans of British beef. They keep trying, but nothing compares--in their opinion--to good ole' American beef. Not being a huge red meat eater myself--Does duck count as red meat? It is red. But it's fowl, right?--I cannot speak to this subject. But I trust their judgement.

Hence how we end up at Rodizio Rico. They have meat, lots of it. And it's all-you-can-eat! Unheard of for this country. And K had called ahead and asked where their beef comes from. Now, supposedly, their red meat comes all the way from Brazil. I find this hard to believe, but that's what they said. My Uncle George, the recreational tuna fisherman, would want to know how long ago those cows went to cow heaven.

The Starters: Rodizio Rico offers a salad bar. An ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT salad bar. I love Rodizio Rico already. Why this country (meaning the UK) hasn't embraced the all-you-can-eat-salad-bar, well, I just don't get it. Now I should note that this particular salad bar was a little short on salad, but chock full of rice and beans, potatoes, and all sorts of delicious carbs. Yum! We stocked up.

The Mains: Then the meat parade began. And I do mean parade. Men kept dropping by our table with huge slabs of meat and big knives. And boy was I glad that A speaks portugese because I do think we got a little preferential treatment. The red meat kept coming and coming. Most of the other folks didn't see the beef as often as we did. They got lots of pork and ham (are they the same or different?) and chicken. Not us. K&A probably had three full steaks between them. I had a couple of pieces of the beef and it was pretty delicious. You can't go wrong with this stuff cooked in a big fireplace. Ialso enjoyed a delicious piece of chicken wrapped in bacon--yum! But I skipped out on the chicken hearts.

After a while though, I started getting ill. There was just SO much meat. I couldn't take it anymore. So I switched to rice and beans, and although the beans weren't brown (they were more red than brown), they were still pretty good.

The Verdict: Without drinks, our bill would have been a reasonable 18 quid each. Not bad, particularly with our Brazilian connection (A) getting us all the top quality stuff. Add the margaritas and caipirinhas though and the bill will sky rocket from there. This would be a good group outing kind of place, or maybe for a stag night or something.

Brick Lane Bargain: Cafe Raj

42 Hanbury St
E1 5JL
Tel: 020 7377 6511

Date of Last Visit: Friday, June 16, 2006

The Victims: Brook, Shane, Renee

The Damage: 10 quid each!!! For A LOT of food. And drinks!

The Story: I met Brook a couple of years ago when I was working in Australia. As small worlds happen, he ended up in London a few months back so we met up for drinks. Drinks turned into dinner under a deceptively bright sky--at 10 p.m. on a Friday night. So we hightailed it over to Brick Lane.

Location and Negotiation: I've never been to Brick Lane on a Friday night. Boy is it an experience. And boy are the folks that work on Brick Lane wiley. We put Renee in charge of negotiating--I was gunning for drinks and appetizers for free--but she fell at the first hurdle. The taxi door opened, we stepped out, and a nice young man ushered us into his restaurant, promising papadans and a round of drinks. Oh, and 20% off. And this was without a negotiation! Imagine if we had negotiated!

The Service: We entered Cafe Raj, a small little place off of Brick Lane, and it was packed. And no one had any food in front of them. But this soon changed. A nice man took our order and explained how he was actually from Bangladesh and then he taught us how to say thank you in both countries. This was nice of him. He also was good with the recommendations for my non-spicy-eating-friends.

The Entrees: The Chicken Jalfrezi for me, along with some saag paneer. Oh how I love saag paneer. Both were delicious. We also had some naan, which was quite perfect as well.

The Drinks: Cheap! 10 quid for a bottle of Riesling. It from Yugoslavia, which no longer exists as a country, but still! How fantastic. And the free round! Really, an excellent bargain.

The Verdict: I'm not sure I could ever find Cafe Raj again, and I do believe that all of Brick Lane is served by one common restaurant located deep underground, but man was this place tasty. And cheap! Then again, maybe it was the beverages I had imbibed earlier. What a good deal for a Friday night!

Que Magnifico!: Green & Red

51 Bethnal Green Rd
E1 6LA
Tel: 020 7749 9670

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, June 14th, 2006

The Victims: Feathers, Jen, Julie, Stacey, Becky, Kellie, Monica, Anna

The Damage: 30 quid a head

The Scoop: We had originally planned on a return to Crazy Homies, only the best place in the world ever. But I managed to convince everyone that we should try a different Mexican restaurant--Green & Red. So we did! And we were very happy.

But first, well, we were a little lost. I mean, we knew where we were going, but you don't walk down Bethnal Green Road most days. It's a bit, well, as my estate agent put it, it's in a vibrant neighborhood.

We arrived early and were seated by a very courteous and nice guy who had once been to Canada to the top of the CN Tower in Toronto. There's a glass floor in the CN Tower, which can be totally petrifying because you're so far up. Green & Red had the same. Only we weren't so far up. But it was still freaky.

Starters: We had the chorizo--which was lovely. And the guacamole, which I thought needed salt, but that could just be me. The chips were good. They weren't made in-house like they are in Crazy Homies--that I could tell, but maybe there was a chip-making-dude somewhere. Like under the glass floor.

Drinks: We went with pitchers of margaritas. Served about 6. 31 quid each. Not cheap! But I still think we got 4 for the price of 3. And they were tasty. Although--very high margin.

Service: Friendly, informative, attentive. Really good. I still need to find out what the manager said to Kellie about her shrimp dish. (Um, sorry, I meant prawns.)

Toilets: Eh. Below average. Good use a good scrub-down.

Mains--I'm Forgetting the Mains!: Pork belly makes me nervous, but our waitress told me it was her fave, so I did it. And I did not regret it. It was delicious. Feathers had the lamb and was heard on multiple occasions saying, "Look at my lamb! The meat is falling off the bone! Look at it!" I wish there had been more refried beans. I know people think they're gross, but I love them. Many enjoyed the carne asada; it looked very good indeed.

Areas for Change: Clean the bathrooms. Introduce happy hour for the margarita pitchers. (1/2 price before 8 p.m.?) Provide free chips and salsa in addition to the complimentary pickled carrots and cauliflower. Unlimited refried beans!!!

The Verdict: This was a little more upscale than I like my Mexican restaurants to be. They specialize in a particular area of Mexico, so you won't find fajitas or enchiladas or any of that Tex-Mex fare. That being said, the food was lovely.

Rate This!

Feathers says I need a rating system. I've been avoiding this because, well, sometimes you want to leave the office at the office. If you know me and my daily grind, you wll know what I mean by that.

So I'm taking suggestions for a unique and fabulous rating system, with the understanding that if I like your suggestion, that's nice. But I'm not going to pay you any money or anything.

A Good Burger: Gourmet Burger Kitchen

200 Haverstock Hill
NW3 2AG
Tel: 020 7443 5335

Date of Last Visit: Friday, June 9th

The VIctims: Too many to mention

The Damage: 10 quid a head

Echo's husband has just moved to the UK from China, so we wanted to get together and do a little something social for them. Jimmy suggested GBK, mostly because it was conveniently located to his flat and it had a big outdoor seating area. But also because the food is good and not-so-pricey.

Well, there were 11 of us, so that meant the outside seating wasn't going to happen. They showed us to a table in the way back of the restaurant. Two tables, actually, because there were too many of us to seat togetether.

The hostess was very friendly about this, but the waiter was kinda a jerk. We couldn't sit here, we couldn't sit there, we were in his way, we couldn't have an extra chair, etc. Someone obviously felt that their job was too important. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to worker in a burger restaurant. No, really, I don't.

Anyhow, we had some Budvars and felt better. Then we ordered our burgers. Mine was just a cheese burger and it was really pretty good. I think I prefer my bun a lot more toasty, but honestly, it was good. And the fries were nice as well. But fries are kinda hard to ruin unless you undercook them. (Which does happen frequently, but not here.)

Everyone seemed really happy with their food, and the bill was pretty reasonable.

The Verdict: Not a destination, but if I were in Belsize Park, I'd go again.

Drink + Help People: The Hoxton Apprentice

16 Hoxton Square
London N1 6NT
Tel: 020 7739 6022

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, June 7th

The Victims: Feathers, Julie

The Damage: 36 quid each. Blame the wine.

I should have been in wine class, but instead, I chose some hands-on experience. Actually, I left work too late to make it to wine class. So instead I met Feathers and Julie at The Hoxton Apprentice.

For those of you who haven't heard of the Apprentice before, what they do is train disadvantaged youths to work in the restaurant industry. A pound is added to your bill to support their efforts.

We enjoyed a table outside in the FANTASTIC weather, along with a lovely bottle of Rose. So funny how in my country, if I ordered a bottle of Rose, everyone would look at me funny! Not so in the UK, or at the Hoxton Apprentice.

Julie and Feathers were enjoying some hummous and pita when I arrived, and they we threw in an order of baba ganoush. Feathers had ordered a tasty-looking entree, which I believe was chicken.

Service throughout was VERY friendly and sweet. Very eager-to-please. A little perhaps too eager--they asked us a million times if we were okay--but that's not a bad thing.

The Verdict: I'd go back.

Shellfish: Wright Bros Oyster & Porter House

11 Stoney Street
SE1 9AD
Tel: 020 7403 9554

Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, June 6th

The Victim: Jose

The Damage: Approximately 78 quid total.

Jose says he's been asking me out to dinner for a year and I keep putting him off. I'm not entirely sure if this is correct, because who wouldn't want to have dinner with Jose? (Some might say he looks like Gabriel Byrne.) So after a leisurely flight over The Pond on Monday, I arrived at Wright Brothers jetlagged and cranky, but very happy to see Jose.

I wanted to go to Wright Bros because Kristi and I had wandered by the other weekend and everyone was drinking white wine and eating big platters of shellfish. It just looked very romantic and summery. Hence why I selected it--because the weather is FANTASTIC these days and well, Jose looks like Gabriel Byrne.

Service was really nice and friendly from the get-go. We started off with a bottle of champagne because apparently, Jose loves champagne. Now champagne on a Tuesday feels a little decadent, but that's not a bad thing.

We split some Fitzpatrick oysters which were nice, but nothing to right home about. Jose was very sweet and let me have two while he had one (albeit a large one). And then we both went with the sea bream for our mains.

I appreciate Tunisia. I say this because man, could they debone a fish. I want to learn how to debone a fish so expertly. Not so at Wright Bros. I consider myself pretty advanced now when it comes to eating fish with the bone still in it, but they hadn't even made the slit along the bottom. And the fish's eye was very cloudy--always a bad sign. That being said, it was still delicious. It must have been drenched in butter.

Jose likes his too. And if I'm not imagining things, he mentioned the prospect of us getting married eventually, which was interesting. Very complex.

Bathrooms--I used the handicapped one because I don't like stairs and the main WCs were down a spiral staircase. The Handicapped toilet was big, spacious, and clean. Always good.

The Verdict: Hmmm. I liked the atmosphere and the service more than the food. I would like to try this out on a weekend.