jamesclay, Author at Time for a coffee

July 4, 2023July 3, 2023

Time for a Fiorentina

I had arrived in Ealing early and had some time before I could check into my hotel. I did quite fancy pizza and I had enjoyed my pizza from Franco Manca when I last had pizza for lunch in Ealing.

I went for a walk, despite thinking I would have pizza for lunch, I did walk around first. I did wonder if the La Rueda Spanish Tapas Bar had a lunch offer, having enjoyed my tapas dinner there the previous week. They didn’t.

I decided I would go to Rosa’s Thai for lunch, but when I got there, it was empty. Decided, that was a no, I don’t really like eating in an empty restaurant.

So, what was I going to have for lunch, decided I would have a pizza at Franca Manca. I went in and there didn’t appear to be any staff, I waited, and then I waited some more. I then walked out.

I headed to Reineta for lunch, this time their lunch menu matched their online lunch menu. However, I didn’t really fancy a toastie or a sandwich. I left and went back to Franca Manca. Again, I waited, I waited some more, then I walked out again.

So, I headed to Pizza Express, this time I was given a warm welcome, so I took a seat and looked over the menu. I had a special offer on the app, so I used them to have a Classic Fiorentina Pizza.

The one with the ‘egg and spinach’, plus mozzarella, tomato, Gran Milano cheese, black olives and garlic oil.

It arrived in good time. It looked really nice. I’ve had this pizza quite a few times and it is one of my favourite pizza from Pizza Express. I like the spinach, olives and egg. I was a little disappointed that the egg was cooked solid, but overall, I did enjoy the pizza. It was good value for money, I had good service and I didn’t need to wait!

July 3, 2023July 2, 2023

Slow Greek Lunch

I have had a few meals at The Real Greek and so when I was in the Gloucester Quays looking for a quick lunch.

They have a lunch deal, so I thought I would go with that. I entered the restaurant and waited to be seated…

And waited…

True there was a member of staff behind the bar preparing some desserts, and did say it would be a few minutes.

And I waited…

I sat at the table and looked over the menu. I decided what I was going to have and I waited.

And waited…

Some people were sat on the table next to me and they had their order taken, even though they were sat after me.

And I waited…

Eventually a member of the waiting staff arrived, and I was able to place my order.

It took a while for my food to arrive.

I expected all the food to come at once, but the cold meze arrived first, and later my hot dishes arrived.

I had the santorini fava, taramasalata, and Greek flatbread.

The santorini fava was made from yellow lentils from Santorini, cooked and blended with herbs and spices, topped with a salsa of tomatoes, onions, capers and caper powder. I’ve had this before and enjoyed it then, and I enjoyed it again this time.

The taramasalata was a creamy blend with naturally undyed cod roe. As the menu says it’s not meant to be pink! I enjoyed the creamy dip.

The Greek flatbreads were soft and warm and there was plenty of it, which was nice.

The hot meze was spinach tiropitakia with chips.

The tiropitakia was three filo pastry parcels with creamy leek, spinach and feta filling. As with the calamari I had recently, sometimes I think does a dish need a salad garnish, this one did. The dish was certainly missing something fresh to accompany the filo pastry parcels. I would have chosen a salad instead of the chips, but no salad was on the lunch menu.

The tiropitakia had been deep fried, I was expecting them to be baked. I would like to have seen layers of flaky pastry. As they had been fried, they were a little greasy and crunchy. The creamy leek, spinach and feta filling was nice though. I liked the chips which were nice and crisp.

Overall I did enjoy my lunch, but was slightly annoyed with how slow the service was. The place wasn’t busy and they seemed to have plenty of staff, so it wasn’t clear about why the service was slow.

July 2, 2023July 4, 2023

Nice chicken, shame about the squid!

I was in London I was staying at the Crowne Plaza in Ealing and I had dinner in the hotel restaurant. They have an extensive menu with some interesting choices.

I always think that the way in which a restaurant cooks and serves calamari gives you an insight into what kind of cooking they do, and food they serve.

So seeing Spiced Squid Rings on the menu I thought I would give them a try. They were described as battered calamari dusted with paprika served with garlic and lemon aioli.

Now I will say at this point that I didn’t think that these would be any good, the description of the squid as battered calamari said to me that these was not going to be freshly cooked squid. This would be frozen calamari rings cooked off in the deep fat fryer.

When it arrived, it was as expected.

The batter was thick and doughy. The squid wasn’t tender, but then it wasn’t chewy either.

Sometimes I think does a dish need a salad garnish, this one did.

I was expecting to me disappointed, and yes I was disappointed.

For my main course I went with the Garlic Butterfly Chicken. Normally this is something I wouldn’t choose, but decided I would go with something different. The hot weather also meant I did actually fancy a salad.

This was marinated chicken served with Panzanella Salad & grated parmesan cheese.

This was a much more impressive looking dish.

The chicken was cooked well, it had been cooked on the griddle, but was still moist and tender and full of flavour.

Now as for the Panzanella Salad. Well if you search online you can find a description of Panzanella Salad.

Panzanella or panmolle is a Tuscan and Umbrian chopped salad of soaked stale bread, onions and tomatoes that is popular in the summer. It often includes cucumbers, sometimes basil and is dressed with olive oil and vinegar.

The salad I got wasn’t quite that, but it was a nice salad. There was stale bread, tomatoes, onions, but it also had quite a bit of sweet peppers as well. I liked the use of grated parmesan cheese. The bread was a little too stale, but did add crunch to the salad.

I liked it, but I think that Florentine traditionalists would disapprove.

So despite the disappointing starter, I did enjoy my main course.

July 1, 2023July 1, 2023

Not my first choice

Heading to Finzel Reach street food market in Bristol for lunch, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to have. I did see that King Fin has their calamari, which I had enjoyed the other day. However first I walked down the market to see what was on offer. Decided I would go with the calamari, only to find when I got back to the King Fin stall they had sold out of the calamari.

Though I hadn’t been totally impressed with the soft shell crab burger when I had it before, I went with it this time.

The burger was a soft brioche bun with a deep fried soft shell crab, and a coleslaw. I added a side order of rosemary chips as well.

The twice cooked rosemary fries with sauce were very tasty, and crispy.

The burger was as I was expecting. The bun was lovely and soft, and the spicy coleslaw added heat and freshness. The deep fried soft shell crab was crispy, but didn’t have the crab taste intensity I would really like to see in this dish. I also felt the crab got lost in the spicy coleslaw as well. However, as I was expecting the food to be like this, I wasn’t really that disappointed.

June 26, 2023June 26, 2023

Time for some calamari

I was working in Bristol and went for a walk at lunchtime.

I wasn’t really thinking about getting some lunch, but knew that I was out that evening, so might be a good idea to have a bigger lunch. I had brought a packed lunch, but did think that I might get a portion of something to add to it.

I decided to head to the Finzel Reach. There I wasn’t sure if I wanted anything, or what to have. In the end I got some calamari from King Fin. I’ve had some lovely food from King Fin in the past.

This time I got it without fries, you can add fries for another three pounds to make it a more substantial dish.

This was a decent portion of calamari. It was served with a chunk of lemon, garlic aioli, and some slaw.

It had been cooked to order, so was lovely and fresh. The coating was nice and crispy, the squid was tasty and tender. I liked the slaw, could have had more of that to be honest.

I think my only real criticism was that there was slightly too much added salt for my liking. I think in the future I will ask for no salt, and then add my own.

Overall I really enjoyed the food and it was excellent again.

June 24, 2023June 23, 2023

Pizza DiSH

I occasionally find myself at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, where we have an office, and on a recent visit was looking for lunch. Pre-pandemic I would usually find lunch at the RAL Restaurant, which was pretty good.

Back in August 2022 I decided to try out the DiSH pop-up dining experience. This had opened in September 2021, but that was my first visit, and I had enjoyed a burger.

I was back on the campus and needing some lunch, so I headed out in the sun to DiSH.

A social dining destination located in the heart of Oxfordshire, with a choice of authentic and vibrant cuisines. Whether you’re enjoying music performances from one of our live artists, or simply relaxing after work with a cold drink – DiSH is a place to congregate, to spark new ideas and enjoy the ambiance.

There was quite a bit of choice at DiSH, I decided that I didn’t want a burger, so that left a Greek wrap, pizza, or burrito. I went with the pizza lunch deal, a margarita pizza with a drink.

I placed my order and within five minutes my freshly cooked pizza was ready.

This was not a huge pizza, about 10” across, but a perfect size for lunch I think. I liked the crust but did feel that the dough was slightly undercooked. The tomato sauce was good and I enjoyed the helping of (proper) mozzarella.

The choice of drinks though was limited, which was a pity. I had a can of sparkling rhubarb from Cawston Press, whereas in reality I wanted a diet Coke. The other choice was a Capri-sun. I am not six.

Overall good service and a nice pizza.

June 23, 2023

Another Artisan Cortado

Having enjoyed my cortado at Artisan Ealing, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when I was back in Ealing, having some time to, and needing a place to check some work stuff, and I wanted a coffee, that I found myself back at Artisan Ealing.

Another friendly welcome, the service was quick and efficient. Once more I was tempted by the cakes, but I resisted temptation. So I went with a cortado.

Took a seat and enjoyed my coffee.

June 22, 2023June 20, 2023

Artisan Coffee

I was in Ealing and decided to have a coffee. There are quite a few places to get a coffee, both the big chains and independents. I had originally gone to Caffe Nero, but there was a big queue and only one barista making coffee. I then remembered across the road was an independent coffee place, Artisan Ealing.

It was quite busy, but there wasn’t much of a queue, so I didn’t have long to wait. I was quite tempted by the cakes, but in the end I went with a cortado.

After getting my coffee I took a seat. I liked the environment with the wooden floors and furniture. The paintings added to the ambience, and I liked the paper bag lights.

The coffee was excellent.

This was a really nice place for coffee. Good service, great coffee, relaxing environment, and a nice selection of cakes.

June 21, 2023June 19, 2023

Back to Master Bao

It had been a while since I had eaten at Master Bao. I really do enjoy a good bao bun and my first encounter with the Master Bao eatery at Westfield was back in December 2019 and a return visit in January 2020. I then made a visit back in September 2021.

So on a recent trip to London and needing some lunch I headed to the Westfield Shopping Centre. I did look around, but in the end headed to Master Bao.

I went with the meal deal of two bao buns and a side. I ordered the Prawn Bao and the Shiitake Mushroom Bao. The side I chose was fried vegetable dumplings.

The Prawn Bao contained marinated king prawns, fried, pickled mooli, spiced spring onions.

The prawns were nice and crispy, I liked the additions, and the bun was soft and fluffy. A really lovely bao bun.

Whilst the Shiitake Mushroom Bao had teriyaki shiitake mushrooms, pickled onions, miso.

Really nice mushrooms, with a strong savoury flavour, which contrasted with the soft fluffy bao.

I’ve had both these bao before and these were just as good, nice and tasty.

The vegetable dumplings had been fried.

I think they would have been better steamed, and then potentially fried in a pan. They were a little too crispy for me, I mainly prefer my dumplings steamed.

Nice lunch.

June 20, 2023June 18, 2023

Pad Kra Prow at Rosa’s Thai

I was attending a conference in Liverpool, and arrived in the evening. I was quite hungry after a long journey to Liverpool, so after looking at (and dismissing) the hotel menu I headed out to the Royal Albert Docks for a bite to eat. There is quite a bit of choice across the docks, and knowing I was short of time, I realised I had to choose quickly. After looking at a few choices I decided that I would go for Thai and went into the branch of Rosa’s Thai they have on the docks.

They described themselves as:

A family of foodies dedicated to serving up perfected Thai dishes. You’ll find us in unfussy cafes at the heart of neighbourhoods, cooking up fresh dishes from our kitchens straight to your table.

The menu looked interesting and I could see quite a few things I liked the look of. So in I went. It was quite busy, but I was given a warm welcome and I took a seat and l looked around. The environment was informal and inviting. They have different kinds of seating and they used lots of wood and wooden furniture. The staff looked busy, but friendly and efficient.

I looked over the menu, which has quite a few options. My first choice for the starter would have been the crispy squid, but I always have that, so looked over the choices. In the end I went with the Gai satay. Described on the menu as succulent, lemongrass-scented grilled chicken thigh skewers with Rosa’s peanut dipping sauce.

These were three large skewers of marinated chicken thighs, nothing like the satay skewers you find in the deli counters of most supermarkets. The satay sauce was delicious and really enhanced the chicken. I was pleased with that choice.

For my main course I did think about getting the Pad metmamuang, the cashew stir fry, but in the end I went with the Seafood Pad Kra Prow. This was the Chilli & Basil Stir Fry with seafood. The menu called this a spicy and fragrant favourite with Thai basil, onions and green beans. This is something of a national dish, a real classic.

I wasn’t sure about the presentation and look of the dish. However the spiciness was just right, there was a good portion of seafood in the dish, though it was dominated by the squid. Not that I minded as I prefer squid. I suspect if you like prawns you might be a little disappointed, though there are prawn dishes elsewhere on the menu.

The squid was nice and tender, and I enjoyed the green beans and Thai basil. Overall I really tasty dish.

Alongside I had some sticky rice.

The sticky rice came wrapped in banana leaf. It was really a large lump of sticky rice, which I had to break apart with my spoon. However it did add to the overall dish.

Alongside the food I had a Thai beer (in a can).

This was a lovely meal, excellent service, tasty food, and nice environment. It was my first experience of Rosa Thai and I certainly would go again.