Category: review

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Merguez sausages with onions

I was staying at the Casa Hotel in Amsterdam and I looked over the menu. I decided I would have the merguez sausages with onions. I do like merguez sausages and have cooked them myself many times.

The plate arrived and there were two merguez sausages on a bed of cooked onions and pepper.

Merguez Sausages with onions

The merguez sausages were similar to ones I have had before, most similar to the ones I bought in France recently when I was there on holiday.

Overall a nice dish of food and so much better than the calamari that I ordered at the same time.

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Back to Chateau-X

restaurant

Back in November 2023 I was attending a conference in Glasgow at the Scottish Event Campus. I looked on Google maps in the surrounding area, Finnieston, to see what restaurants were local to the hotel. Chateau-X which was not too far from my hotel did an early week special where they do steak and frites for just £10. I had a fantastic plate of food and wrote it up on the blog.

This was an excellent meal, and great value for money. I certainly would go again. In the end I did, a couple of days later and had lunch there.

I always planned if I was in the area again that I would go back to Chateau-X. In the end I didn’t get to the conference again in November 2024 so didn’t get the chance to have steak and frites once more.

In October 2025 I was back in Glasgow for a different conference and realised that Chateau-X wasn’t too far from the hotel where I was staying. I headed off to the restaurant to get a late lunch. As it was a Wednesday I could get their now infamous steak frites deal. Later in the week there is a more substantial menu available, with more choices of steaks and prices to match.

As it was mid afternoon, there was plenty of space, I know though from experience that this is a popular venue, so if you are going in the evening, it makes sense to book a table.

I looked over the menu, though the deal has gone up in price, it is now £15, you do get a side with the deal. Back in 2023 I ordered an additional side to my £10 deal. 

I went with the Flat Iron Frites. For my side I went with the Tobacco Onions, for my sauce I went with the Bone Marrow Jus.

It wasn’t long before my skillet arrived with my sliced flat iron steak, frites, the bone marrow jus, and the tobacco onions on the side.

steak and chips

This was just as good as I remember from my previous visit. The only difference was back then I had gone for garlic butter, this time I had gone with the bone marrow jus. 

The steak was tasty, tender and full of flavour. The fries were crispy. I also released the tobacco onions, crispy strings of onion, delicious.

fried onions in a pot on a table with a bottle and vase in the background

However, the stare of the show for me, was the amazing bone marrow jus, which was just incredible, deep intense flavour, perfect with the steak and for dipping the fries in.

This was an excellent meal and like last time great value for money. I hope to get back there real soon.

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Dinner at ARCA

Amsterdam canal in the evening

I was back in Amsterdam for some meetings. We went out for dinner and we headed off to ARCA. Portuguese chef Henrique Sá Pessoa who has two Michelin stars in Lisbon, opened ARCA Amsterdam in 2021 on Martelaarsgracht, close to Amsterdam Central Station.

Inside was elegant decor and some odd looking sculptures. As we congregated we had a drink in the bar. Once we were all there we were shown to our table. The place was full and busy.

There was a really interesting menu, and to be honest I probably could have ordered anything (or everything) off the menu. 

For my starter I had the carpaccio de lírio. This was yellowtail carpaccio, Portuguese ‘caponata’ and pickled pearl onion.

carpaccio de lírio.

Now I did think this was going to be yellowfin tuna, but yellowtail is a different kind of fish. This was a fusion dish of Japanese style yellowtail slices with a Portuguese twist with the caponata. I had heard of caponata, but couldn’t remember exactly what it was. This version was aubergine, pepper, tomato, and onion. This was a delicious plate of food. The thin slices of fish were tasty and the caponata added sharpness and flavour.

For my main course I had the presa Ibérica. This was Iberian pork presa, “Bolhão Pato” purée, and seasonal clams.

presa Ibérica

I chose the pork as I have a fondness for Iberian pork. 

The Presa Ibérica (Iberico dam) is one of the most prized cuts in restaurants. It is also known as the “caviar” of the pig. It is in the front of the animal, between the spine and the shoulder. It is a muscle that the animal exercises a lot yet the infiltrated fat makes it very juicy.

Alongside the pork was some lovely smooth potato purée. The dish was dressed with green beans, puffed rice, clams, and a tasty sauce.

The pork was cooked perfectly, there was a lovely char on the outside of the portion of pork, the pork was tender and full of flavour. I really enjoyed every mouthful and cleared my plate.

Two of our party went with the polvo à lagareiro, this was roasted octopus, mashed sweet potato, and piquillo peppers.

polvo à lagareiro,

This looked amazing and was assured it was delicious.

Overall this was a fantastic meal and I really enjoyed it. The service was excellent, friendly and efficient.

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It wasn’t perfection…

Drayton Court Hotel

One of the best roast dinners I have had was from the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I remember the first time I had their Sunday roast back in 2022. I said back then: This was probably one the best carvery meals I have ever had from a pub.

Though in April this year I had an even better version from the Drayton Court Hotel. It looked great and was delicious. 

The roast dinners at the Drayton Court Hotel are excellent and are a real treat. I have had a few over the years and enjoyed them all. So, it wouldn’t be a surprise that I ordered the Roast Sirloin of Beef. It was a fantastic looking plate of food.

So, a recent stay at the hotel on a Sunday I was looking forward to my roast dinner. As you can imagine I had quite high expectations about the food. Probably too high expectations.

This is what I got.

roast beef dinner

This is what I was expecting.

Roasted Sirloin of Beef

This was not perfection. I had eaten perfection back in April, this was nice, but nowhere near as good as the dish I had before. The beef was tasty, but wasn’t pink as advertised. The vegetables were delicious, the squash mash and cabbage were particularly good. The roast potatoes however had been standing around too long and had gone soft. I enjoyed the cauliflower cheese (served separately) and there was some really good gravy. The Yorkshire pudding, usually the crowning glory was, well a little flat.

For a roast dinner it was nice, but the problem I had I was comparing good to perfection, and in that case perfection will always win.

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What, no…

One of the best meals I have had in recent years has been the Sunday Roast from Drayton Court Hotel in London.

The roast dinners at the Drayton Court Hotel are excellent and are a real treat. I have had a few over the years and enjoyed them all. So, it wouldn’t be a surprise that I ordered the Roast Sirloin of Beef. It was a fantastic looking plate of food.

So, staying at the hotel on a Sunday I was really looking forward to a roast beef dinner. So, you can imagine my disappointment when I went to the bar to order my food that they had sold out… I would have to choose something else from the menu. As it was a Sunday they had a limited choice, as they usually serve roasts.

In the end I went with the braised beef & ale short crust pie with creamed potato & gravy. It was supposed to come with peas, but I got cabbage.

braised beef & ale short crust pie with creamed potato & gravy

It was a nice looking pie, the mash was smooth, and I enjoyed the cabbage. However, the gravy was awful, it had a weird taste, which I realised later was ash like. I couldn’t be bothered to complain, so had my pie and mash without gravy.

I think I was disappointed with the pie, as earlier in the week I had been to Cadbury Garden Centre and had a fantastic steak pie from Walter Smith Fine Foods who have a deli counter in the centre. The pie from Walter Smith was in a completely different league to the pie from the Drayton.

Overall I wasn’t that happy, no roast, and not a very good pie, and horrible gravy. I think that if this happens again, and there isn’t a decent choice on the menu, I will venture elsewhere for my dinner.

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Ravioli al Tartufo

Delft

You would think that if I was in the Netherlands that really I should be eating Dutch food. The challenge I sometimes have when I am travelling abroad for work, is finding places to eat, but also finding places to eat that are within budget. Not that I sometimes mind paying more for excellent food, sometimes I do mind.

The last time I was in the Netherlands was in October 2022 when I visited Amsterdam for a conference. This time I was attending a conference in Delft and attending meetings in Utrecht as well. 

Upon my arrival in Delft, I did have a chance to explore the city and looking around there were some nice looking places for dinner, but they all seemed out of budget. In the end I went to an Italian restaurant, Pavarotti, which is situated in what was the old railway station. It certainly doesn’t look like a station from the inside any more.

They had an extensive menu, but I decided I would have the ravioli al tartufo. This was filled pasta with wild mushrooms, cream sauce, truffle tapenade, mushrooms and arugula (rocket).

The pasta was well cooked and still had a bite. The sauce was nice and you could taste the truffle. The sauce did contain mushrooms, think I would I like to have had some wild mushrooms in there. Not sure how much the arugula added to the dish, but it was nice to have some greenery in the dish. I enjoyed the pasta.

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Halloumi Bowl

Halloumi Bowl

I was in Bristol working and popped out at  for lunch to the Temple Quay street food market. Lots of choice as usual, in the end though I decided I would try something new and different, something that I wouldn’t necessarily be my first choice.

I went to the Hummusapiens van and ordered a halloumi bowl. This was honey glazed halloumi in a bowl with quinoa and hummus. It came with salad and all the trimmings. I did like the look of their flat bread they were using for their wraps, but you couldn’t order a plain one, though they do do artisan pitta bread. However, that is not the same thing.

The halloumi was delicious, and all the stuff in the bowl really made the dish. I absolutely loved it. The pickled vegetables added bite and sharpness. I enjoyed the quinoa and the hummus was excellent.

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Fish Curry

Birmingham

I was staying over in Birmingham with colleagues for an away day and a staff conference. We had decided to go out for dinner and one of my colleagues had recommended the Hen & Chickens, one of many desi pubs in Birmingham. Essentially this is a pub which sells curry. There was quite a lot of choice, but I went with the fish curry and a naan bread.

This was a decent portion of curry and it was really delicious. The fish was cooked perfectly, sometimes with a fish curry the fish can be overcooked, so it falls apart as you try and eat it, this fish was nice and firm. The sauce could have been over-spiced, but I felt it was just right, you can taste the spices, and I think the best way to describe it was that there was heat in the spice mix used, but it wasn’t overly spicy either. The naan bread was nice and fresh and went well with the curry.

I did like the look of the menu, and would have liked to try out all the starters and the mixed grills sounded interesting. I didn’t get a chance to talk a photograph go my dish. Hopefully I can make a return visit in the future.

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Had my usual…

When I get to Wagamama, part of me says, try something new, another part of me says, I like the yasai yaki soba, which is mushrooms,  soba noodles cooked with egg, peppers, beansprouts, onion, pickled ginger, crispy fried onions and sesame seeds.  I decided I would have this and some mushroom bao, another dish I regularly order. 

I don’t always order this, when I was visiting a branch of Wagamama at Cabot Circus recently, I had Honey Fried Chicken and Chicken Pho. Whilst in Nottingham though I went with the yasai yaki soba I had different bao.

This time we were back in London and visiting the Wagamama branch at Covent Garden. We have been there before and had an issue with the delay in getting the gluten free dish we had ordered to the table before everyone else finished their food. Part of that was that the server took our main order, but a manager has to take the gluten free order for the table. 

We were quite early in the evening, there was no queue, and we were shown to our table, one aspect of Wagamama which is useful in central London, and to be honest elsewhere as well, is that not only do you not need to book, but you can’t book anyhow. So, just turn up and see if a table is available. When we came to order, we asked for the manager straight away, so we could order everything together.

I really don’t mind that Wagamama bring out the dishes when they’re ready, but we did have to wait nearly an hour for our food. Luckily this time all our food arrived within a reasonable timeframe.

I enjoyed my yasai yaki soba, though I always think it could do with more mushrooms. If I order the chicken yak soba, I get a fair amount of chicken, with the mushroom version, they appear to be quite stingy with the mushrooms.

This was rather tasty, I like the contrasting textures and flavours in this dish.

I also enjoyed the mushroom bao buns. The crispy aubergine is a nice touch which gives the dish a contrast of soft fluffy bao bun, the crunch of the crispy aubergine, and the delicate texture of the mushrooms.

We all enjoyed our food and we settled the bill using the app. As we left there was now a queue which was out of the building and down the street. 

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Tonkutsu Pork Ramen

Tram in Helsinki

Back in February I was on a trip to Helsinki in Finland for a few days for work. I was staying at the Scandic Hotel Simonkenttä in the heart of the city. Looking for a good value meal, I chose Momotoko in the Kamppi shopping centre, which was conveniently located near my hotel. The food was delicious and reasonably priced. Though I was in Finland and part of me wanted to try authentic Finnish cuisine, I was on a budget and really enjoy Korean-style food. The ordering process was simple: you place your order at the counter, and they bring the food to your table.

I had enjoyed both the pork donburi and chicken donburi at Momotoko, so looking again for lunch I headed there. This time I went with the Tonkutsu Pork Ramen. This was ramen noodles with Tonkotsu pork broth and pork belly. It was accompanied by marinated egg, seaweed, sugar snap peas, bamboo shoots, spring onion and roasted garlic.

Tonkutsu Pork Ramen

The bowl looked fantastic, it was really tasty. Full of flavour and the pork was very tender. The broth was well flavoured and was delicious.