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The London Review of Books Cakeshop

 

The London Review Cakeshop
14-16 Bury Place
WC1A 2JL

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, January 24th 2009

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £5

The Background: I am having a great London day. Manicure, pedicure. Fantastic crepe. Eyebrows taken care of. And now I feel like a slice of cake. So I Google the London Review of Books and find myself at their cakeshop.

I first heard about the London Review of Books via an article in the New York Times all about the actual London Review of Books, the magazine. It was talking about their personals section. Have you read these yet? For those of you too lazy to click the link, let me post a few:

Dear LRB, I have no money. Please run my advert for free. I want a woman who is 38. Let her know I’m really clever and good-looking. Thanks.

Yesterday I was a disgusting spectacle in end-stage alcoholism with a gambling problem and not a hope in the world. Today I am the author of this magnificent life-altering statement of yearning and desire. You are a woman to 55 with plenty of cash and very little self-respect. When you reply to this advert your life will never be the same again. My name is Bernard. Never call me Bernie.

If forced to commit, I’d say I feared geese more than ducks. Man, 47. Fears geese more than ducks.

The Food: After buying myself a few books, I step into the cakeshop. It's a bit cramped, truth be told. But apparently, they have free wi-fi. This seems like a good place for an intellectual date. So go for it, if you're reading this and are intellectual and need a good place for a date. Take him or her here.

So I order myself a decaf and a slice of cheesecake. And wish I had brought my laptop so I could have gotten in some blogging. I have a lot of restaurant reviews to catch up on!

And the cheesecake is the most honestingly refreshing slice of cheesecake I can ever remember having. The biscuit crust! The cake! The mixed berry topping! It is all so perfect that I have to go to the counter and ask where they've procured such a cheesecake.

Apparently, the owner has a friend. Who makes him/her a cheesecake every so often. I wish I had a friend like this. Look at this cake. Just look at it!

 

The Verdict: Go on an intellectual date here and wow the object of your desire with a slice of cheesecake. Really. Really! This was fantastic.

Scoop, and a Hello to Observer Readers

Scoop
40 Shorts Gardens
WC2H 9AB
020 7240 7086

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, 13 July 2008

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £2

The Background: I don't often post on a Sunday. But I'm pounding the keyboard a little earlier than normal today for two very good reasons...

Firstly, I had my first taste ever of gelato from Coven't Garden's Scoop. And I fell head-over-tiramisu-heels in love. £2 for a lovely self-selected concoction of green tea and, well, tiramisu. Good. Unbelievably good. (I also liked how when I went to take a picture, the young girl behind the counter actually HELPED me to take the picture. I was a bit worried she was going to ask me to put the camera away, but no! She helped me get a cleaner shot!)

I was first introduced to Scoop by fellow London food blogger, Silverbrow. And then Jess from Ripe London joined the love-fest. And then I saw Mario on an episode of The Apprentice, and I knew God was trying to tell me something. Go now.

Why You Should Go Out and Buy The Observer
I also wanted to post today because at 7:35 a.m., a time when no decent bakery seems to want to feed me pain au chocolat, I picked up a copy of The Observer. Jay Rayner wrote a great piece on Bloggers & Critics in The Observer Review and there's a little profile of me. If you pick up the print version, well, I think it's fair to say I've used up by 15 minutes. 

The gist of the piece is whether bloggers pose a threat to traditional media and if the world of criticism is being democratized. One of my favorite quotes in the article is from fellow London food blogger Simon of Dos Hermanos, who says of the pros, "If you're not entertaining, however informative you are, there's no reason for you existing"" I also like where Lynne of Dove Gray Reader says, "There's nothing objective about what I'm doing. It's about my emotional responses."

So if you are visiting my horribly-named blog for the first time (I think there will be a rebranding exercise in 2008), thanks for stopping by! If you want to know where this particular London food and restaurant blogger came from, you can read more about me on my About page. (And if you'd like to send me an e-mail, you'll see my address way down at the bottom of the page.) Visit my archives--all the way back to June of 2004--to see how my prose has improved over time. (Thankfully.) I have a page devoted to my 10 favorite London restaurants, and if you have a moment, why not participate in The Leicester Square Challenge, my most popular post to date? Plus, you might enjoy some of my favorite posts.

Because you know I love statistics, I might update this post later in the week with details on the amount of referral traffic I get. So stay tuned, and again, thanks for dropping by.

Sushi: Hana

Hana
20-21 St Giles High Street
WC2H 8LN

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, May 31

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £15 or thereabouts

The Background: We had thrown around some lunch ideas for our day out to see Sex & The City. I was a big fan of the dim sum idea, but no one else seemed game. No matter, I was still hungry.

Eating dim sum alone though...what fun is that? That's why I like sushi counters. They are made for the solo diner! I ran a quick search on Time Out of the Japanese places closed to Tottenham Court--I wasn't feeling like breaking the bank with Roka--and Hana it was. Hana is located upstairs from the interesting little Korean grocery store on St. Giles High Street, behind Centre Point.

The Entrance: I swear Hana is actually run by Koreans, not Japanese. Whatever nationality they were, they sure were nice. Attentive and sweet. I just ordered a standard combo box and it was out in front of me in minutes.

The Food: Nice enough. Although I was suspicious...I never saw the sushi chef cut anything up. Was this platter pre-prepared? I guess that's efficient. But it took some of the fun out of sitting at the sushi bar.

The Verdict: Well, I don't know. Sweet enough. But not super-fantastic.

Pub: Princess Louise

Princess Louise
208-209 High Holborn
WC1V 7BW
Tel: 020 7405 8816

Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, April 29th

The Damage: £5?

The Victims: Aunt Ursula, Uncle George

I don't often write about pubs. But I have to mention the Princess Louise in Holborn. This is truly a lovely, lovely pub. If your family appreciates good tilework and molding like mine does, well, you'll love it forever.

A few days earlier, I had contacted Stonch, over at Stonch's Beer Blog, and asked him for some pub recommendations for me and my aunt and uncle--some places that they would talk about for days and months afterwards. He gave me three: The Princess Louise, Ye Olde Mitre, and The Lamb on Lamb's Conduit Street. I had hoped we'd make it to all three, but we were so worn out by our trips to Salisbury,  Bath, and Greenwich, that The Princess Louise was all we got to. That's okay though, as it was a hugely successful visit and Aunt Ursula and Uncle George haven't stopped talking about the beer (Samuel Smith's) and the woodwork since.

The Verdict: Go.

Guest Blog: Matsuri

Today's guest blog comes from Jon at OishiiOishii. Don't forget to come back on Tuesday, May 6th to vote for your favorite guest blogger!

Irish footballer Ronnie O'Brian was once voted Juventus' Best Player Ever despite never actually having played a first team game for them, and in 1999 he was leading a Time Magazine online poll for Person of the Century ahead of the likes of Albert Einstein and Martin Luther King. These two situations came about from cheeky scamps manipulating online polls for their own amusement.

At the time of writing the Holborn branch of Matsuri weighs in on London Eating with an extremely impressive overall rating of 8.9 making it one of the top rated restaurants in London . Matsuri's 8.9 has not necessarily been achieved by dodgy means, it's just that if Ronnie O'Brian has taught us anything, it's to at least be a little wary of taking the results of online voting on face value.

When I visited Matsuri in Holborn I went for their 15 Year Anniversary Menu (£35) along with a sushi platter shared between 4 - With the exception of the dessert which was pretty standard ice cream everything was very good. The sushi we had is probably one the best I've eaten in London with the fatty tuna being lip smacking, melt in your mouth delicious. The only slight complaint being that for £30 for the platter, the individual sushi pieces were a little on the small side.

The restaurant looks very swish in a simple modern way and it has a separate sushi counter which is apparently the longest in the UK . The service was also top notch with everyone extremely polite and efficient.

Overall Matsuri is excellent, so I there's probably not been a case of the Ronnie O'Brians. That said 8.9 is a little on the high side when you take into account the cost of the food being a long way from a bargain. Lovely stuff none the less.

Thanks again to Jon at OishiiOishii for providing today's guest post while I take a little break Don't forget to come back on Tuesday, May 6th to vote for your favorite guest blogger!

Korean: Asadal

Asadal
227 High Holborn
WC1V 7DA
020 7430 9006

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, January 5, 2007

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £10, exactly. 

The Background: Why do we make the decisions (or take the decisions, as you say here) that we do? I really don't know what prompted me to get up on a Saturday morning and go out for Korean food. I was going to Selfridge's to get my eyebrows done and buy some facial cleanser, if you must know. And I had this idea about hitting Polo for lunch at some point during the afternoon.

But then...as it does tend to happen...I ended up getting on the 243 bus instead of the 55. (No coffee. Not thinking.) And the 243 lets you out at Holborn instead of heading west to Oxford Circus. So I was really mad at myself and I was standing on High Holborn, thinking. Thinking thinking. I'm sure people thought I was crazy. Crazy American tourist blocking their way. (There is something about my teeth that betrays my nationality.) And then I saw Asadal and I thought...hmmm...not Polo...but it's Korean...

The Entrance: It's empty. I'm empty. And I want some tofu soup. I explain this to my very kind waitress who looks at me funny and tells me that I can't possibly want the tofu soup because it has a very strong taste and I won't like it.

At which point I look at HER funny and tell her that I am sure I WILL like it and that I LIKE strong tastes. I also challenge her to further define "strong" (and to provide a specific example) but we seem to have hit a language barrier. I sit and wait and contemplate the obviousness of my dislike of being told what I will and will not like. I need to confirm for myself. (Apparently my two favorite sentences as a child were "Are you sure?" and "How do you know?")

Now I know that Korean restaurants in London are challenged by their traditional notions of providing "little dishes" complimentary at the start of the meal. They are challenged because Londoners are cheap and will gladly eat all the free food, swizzle a beer, and leave. So many a Korean restaurant in central London will charge for the free stuff, although apparently if I go to New Malden, I won't have this problem.

The Food: So I am pleased and delighted when the little dishes arrive...there's kimchee, of course, plus some spinachy looking substance that looks better than it tastes, and some sprouts, which are just okay. But hey, I wasn't expecting anything and life is good when your expections are exceeded.

I pay a quid for tea and it is hot and so it the cup it's served in--so hot that I can't hold the cup. So I have to wait about 10 minutes before I can quench my thirst. Why would they serve tea in a cup that conducts heat? I don't understand.

Here comes the tofu soup and it is just tofu soup. There is nothing "strong tasting" about it, except for a few green chillies that I am wise enough not to eat. Perhaps others have eaten the chillies and complained. I can not guess at the eating habits of those that have come before me. The soup is nice. It's a good, warming lunch.

The Service: Sweet. Low scores on the TOEFL though. No automatic service charge is added to the tab. Even sweeter. But I leave £1.25 anyhow.

The Verdict: It was good. But I still like Polo better.

Chinese: Shanghai Blues

Shanghai Blues
193-197 High Holborn
WC1V 7BD
Tel: 0207 404 1668

Date of Last Visit: Thursday, November1st

The Victims: Al, Dave, Natalie, and Dave's friend whose name I've forgotten. Bad of me! And she was really nice, too.

The Damage: £57 each

The Background: I like Chinese food. A lot. In a past life, I think I was Chinese. Give me chicken feet and I will eat them. (Although let it be known that I do not necessarily seek them out.) Snake, check. Tofu, check check check. About the only "Chinese" dish I don't like is sweet and sour chicken (or pork). Too sweet for me. (Some would argue that this is not Chinese food at all, so in that sense, it makes sense.)

So when Al suggests meeting up for dinner at Shanghai Blues, I am intrigued. I read some reviews online and more than a few mention how dark it is inside Shanghai Blues. I am even more intrigued. Even more so when a very large man lets me in the front door. A restaurant with a bouncer? Porquoi? (I would write "Why?" in Chinese, but my Chinese is limited to gweiluo in Cantonese, xie xie in Mandarin, and beer, which I always forget the word for.)

I am late--very unlike me--because of an unfortunate incident with my cash card where the machine said it was dispensing cash but no cash was forthcoming, but I catch Al and brother Dave at the bar (which is dark--but not so dark that you can't see), drinking martinis. I am reminded of my Sake-tini in Mexico, of all places. I peruse the bar menu and there are no Sake-tinis to be found, but I ask the bartender and he smiles knowingly. He has to call up a cucumber from the kitchen, and proceeds to slice it up a bit. He uses the slices to line the bottom of a martini glass. I feel like I am in the hands of an expert. He tells me I am in on a big secret at Shanghai Blues.

The sake-tini arrives a few minutes later and it is COLD. Icy cold. Perfect. I am in love.

The Service: I am not so in love with the service at Shanghai Blues. The serving staff are gruff and unhelpful. I pry recommendations out of them like English people performing denistry at home. (Btw, guys, this has GOT to stop.)

The Food: Our starters are beautifully presented though, so there's that. Al's got some little pumpkins...They are, if I get this right, pumpkin dumplings shaped like pumpkins. They are cute. (I took a photo but it is way too dark.) My dumplings come in their own little dumpling hammocks. Well done.

My main--a recommendation for which which I gave away my first unborn child--is the star of the night. It's beef and peppers and it's amazingly delicious. Days later and I am still thinking abou it. The rest of the dishs are not so nice. There are some limp veggie noodles and some slippery some spicy tofu.

After our meal, a very creative fruit tray arrives with a candle in it...it is Dave's birthday, after all. The waitstaff are temporarily redeemed, as they apparently overheard us say it was Dave's birthday and decided to put the festive fruit tray together for us. They fall back out of our good graces when our request for the check takes AGES.

The Verdict: That beef dish was great. And the dumplings were so cute. I made good choices. I would go back.

Meat: Theobald's Butcher

Theobald's Butcher
21 Theobalds Road 
WC1X 8SL
020 7242 7740

As you might have noticed, I like taking pictures of

1. Food (although not in restaurants)
2. Food through glass

I couldn't resist snapping this one of all the raw meat in the window of Theobald's on my walk home from Oxford Street. The queue/line was out the door as I passed by.

Have you been?

Eco-Friendly: Acorn House

69 Swinton Street
WC1X 9NT
Tel: 020 7812 1842

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, 14 Feb 2007

The Victim: Howard

The Damage: £80ish for me.

The Background: I had done something to make Howard just the tiniest bit upset with me. He felt unloved and no one should feel like that on Valentine's Day. So we agreed to meet up for a drink and a show and maybe a meal. I suggested Pizza Express. :)

The Approach: After 15 minutes of head-banging at The Water Rat, we wisely decided to head out for some sustenance. It was a little late, so I was thinking a kebab or some chips or maybe a curry or maybe even a little late-night dim sum.

I managed to forget somehow that Howard is a foodie, so we weren't talking Best Kebab or duck pancakes.

We were talking five course tasting menu at a restaurant that specializes in environmentally sustainable cuisine and giving back to the community.

£90 with wine. £68 without.

And it was Valentine's Day, so this wasn't just any five course tasting menu. We (well, THEY, actually) were talking one dish after another all centered around the big day.

The Crowd: Howard said I seemed obsessed by the fact that all the men had the outside seat and all the women had the bench seat. I purposefully bucked the trend and took the outside seat. Howard made me feel better about being a modern woman by noting he preferred the inside seat.

The Food: It was nice. The beet soup was really nice--points to Howard for remembering that beets are not my favorite thing. As long as I can't see the beets, I'm fine. (I feel the same about tomatoes. Like ketchup, hate big slices of raw tomatoes.) The salad was okay. It had quince in it; I'm not sure how I feel about quince. The lobster risotto was like rice with lobster in it, proving to myself once again that risotto is just rice. Until someone proves me wrong. The scallop dish was nice, but just a little bit on the salty side for me.

The Wine: I kept trying to prove to Howard that my wine was colder than his. I finally figured it out the next morning--they served me larger portions of wine because I went by-the-glass. So my wine kept the chill probably a little longer than his. I was really sad because I do love tasting menus with wine. The problem was that it was a Wednesday, and I needed to be very productive the next day.

The Best Part: The ginger cake! It was fantastic. I do love ginger.

The Verdict: Loved the concept. Thought the food was nice and the service was friendly too. I would be open to a return visit.

Neighborhood Chinese: Sheng's Tea House

68 Millman Street
WC1N 3EF

Tel: 020 7405 3697

Date of Last Visit: Monday, October 31st

The Victims: Ben, Jimmy, Niculie, Bina, Alex

The Damage: Unknown!

Ben scoured Time Out for some good, neighborhoody Chinese food. He came up with Sheng's, and I was excited to go because I hadn't really hadn't eaten in that part of town before.

We got a little confused at Russell Square tube, but soon set off in the right direction. There was Sheng's, very warm looking and welcoming. And somewhat empty, but it was early. Oh yeah, and we were late.

We had a table right up by the windows, so we could watch the trick-or-treaters go by. Sadly, the proprieter would not let them into the restaurant, so they heckled us from outside. Wonder who's going to have egg on their storefront tomorrow???

For starters, we ordered some Bang Bang Chicken--which was thin strips of chicken with peanut sauce, some squid (very good!), and some spring rolls, which looked overly fried to me. The squid came with fried seaweed, which I love. Who would have thought that fried seaweed would be so delicious? (For those of you who have never seen it or tried it, it's almost like eating really delicious paper that's been through a paper shredder 20 million times.)

For my entree, I went with the chicken and mushrooms because I'm going South Beach. I must not have been the only one, because Niculie and Bina ordered the same. As did Alex. Jimmy went with the Laksa, which looked delicious. Some sort of noodle-y curry dish. Ben's dish looked yummy too--but I don't know what it was. Noodles and something.

The Verdict: It was good. Not a destination, for sure. But I guess if I lived around the corner, I'd go more than once.