Tag: london

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Beef short rib bao bun

One of the regular places I stay when in London is the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I have been staying here for a fair few years now. It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast. West Ealing Station is a few minutes walk from the hotel, from there you can catch a train to central London in less than twenty minutes.

Having dinner there, for my starter I went with the Beef short rib bao bun with bourbon maple glaze, aioli, coriander and peanuts.

bao buns

I have had these twice before and really enjoyed them. These though looked very different to the bao buns I had before at Drayton Court.

The beef was very tender, but I am pretty sure it wasn’t short rib. I couldn’t really taste the bourbon maple glaze. They were good, but I did feel something was missing from the dish.

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Pumpkin Ravioli

A favourite spot I frequent in London is the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. It’s been my go-to for years now. Compared to central London, it’s much easier on the wallet, and the Elizabeth Line makes getting downtown a snap. West Ealing Station, just a short walk away, offers trains that zip you into central London in under 20 minutes.

They have an ever changing menu and they have a specials menu. One of the specials was a roasted pumpkin & sage ravioli with maple roasted prince pumpkin, herb pesto, creme fraiche & toasted seeds.

This vegetarian dish sounded interesting, so I had it for dinner.

Pumpkin Ravioli

It wasn’t the most appetising looking dish I have had at Drayton Court. I think a swirl of creme fraiche would have enhanced this dish. The menu description said creme fraiche, but I am not sure if either it was missed off, or mixed in with the pesto.

The ravioli was cooked well, too easy to overcook filled pasta, but this was still al dente. I liked the deep fried sage which added flavour and texture to the dish, as did the toasted pumpkin seeds. I enjoyed the chunks of maple roasted prince pumpkin which were quite tasty. Overall it was an interesting dish, not sure I would order it again though.

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Mediterranean pizza with mushrooms, artichoke & olives

Drayton Court Hotel

One of the regular places I stay when in London is the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I have been staying here for a fair few years now. It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast. West Ealing Station is a few minutes walk from the hotel, from there you can catch a train to central London in less than twenty minutes. The hotel has an Ealing comedies theme, there are rooms named after films, and there are numerous photographs from the films framed on the walls in the bedrooms.

The staff are always welcoming and friendly, and the whole place has a real charm to it. The dinner menu is excellent and unlike other Fuller Brewery hotels they also have an extensive pizza menu.

I usually avoid pizza in hotels as they usually use pre-cooked bases, or even prepared pizza. I remember once having a pizza at the Doubletree Hilton and being very unimpressed with that pizza.

I think they had used a pre-cooked base, rather than making it fresh. I wasn’t too surprised by that. I was a little surprised that the tomato base was tomato puree and not passata or other kind of tomato sauce. This I wasn’t too impressed with. The toppings were nice and fresh though.

The Drayton Court Hotel however has a proper pizza oven and use proper pizza bases. I had enjoyed the time I had pizza there back in March 2023. I had the Florentine Pizza, which included spinach, mushrooms, olives, and an egg. It is one of my favourite pizzas and I have quite often when visiting pizza places.

This time I ordered the Mediterranean pizza with mushrooms, artichoke & olives. This is in fact a vegan choice, so I asked to swap the vegan cheese for “normal” cheese. I am not really a fan of vegan cheese.

It wasn’t long before my pizza arrived, in a box. I wasn’t expecting that. As the weather was nice, I headed out into the beer garden and had my pizza al fresco with a beer.

There was a generous amount of mushrooms, artichoke and olives on top of the pizza. The base was freshly cooked, crisp on the outside and soft and doughy on the inside. I really enjoyed the pizza, it was very tasty.

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Florentine Pizza

Whilst writing another blog post I realised I had not written about a meal I had eaten last year. Back in March 2023, I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I have been staying here for a fair few years now. It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast. West Ealing Station is a few minutes walk from the hotel, from there you can catch a train to central London in less than twenty minutes. The hotel has an Ealing comedies theme, there are rooms named after films, and there are numerous photographs from the films framed on the walls.

I was going to have the steak sandwich, but I misread the menu, they stopped serving sandwiches at 5pm. So instead, I had the fish tacos and then the Florentine pizza.

I usually avoid pizza in hotels as they usually use pre-cooked bases, or even prepared pizza. I remember once having a pizza at the Doubletree Hilton and being very unimpressed with that pizza.

I think they had used a pre-cooked base, rather than making it fresh. I wasn’t too surprised by that. I was a little surprised that the tomato base was tomato puree and not passata or other kind of tomato sauce. This I wasn’t too impressed with. The toppings were nice and fresh though.

The Drayton Court Hotel however has a proper pizza oven and use proper pizza bases. So I was quietly looking forward to see what I would get.

I ordered the Florentine Pizza, which included spinach, mushrooms, olives, and an egg. It is one of my favourite pizzas and I have quite often when visiting pizza places.

I wasn’t to be disappointed. This was an excellent generous pizza. A great base, cooked well, and delicious toppings. The dough was crisp with a soft centre, the toppings were full of flavour and there was just the right amount of tomato and cheese. The egg was a little overcooked for my preference, but this didn’t detract from the whole pizza eating experience.

All in all a delicious pizza.

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I forget about those Fish Tacos

Whilst writing another blog post I realised I had not written about a meal I had eaten last year. Back in March 2023, I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I have been staying here for a fair few years now. It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast. West Ealing Station is a few minutes walk from the hotel, from there you can catch a train to central London in less than twenty minutes. The hotel has an Ealing comedies theme, there are rooms named after films, and there are numerous photographs from the films framed on the walls.

I was going to have the steak sandwich, but I misread the menu, they stopped serving sandwiches at 5pm. So instead, I had the fish tacos and then the Florentine pizza.

I’ve had the fish tacos many times before at the Drayton Court Hotel. These are crispy strips of battered fish served on flour tortillas, with salad, dressings, and a mango salsa.

It’s in many ways quiet a simple dish, but isn’t one I have recreated back home. I have made similar tacos using crispy chicken, and I have also made my own salsa as well. Though I’ve not made a mango salsa. 

These tacos were delicious, and I really enjoyed them.

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Better coffee

Drayton Court Hotel

I was back in London and staying at the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I have been staying here for a fair few years now. It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast. West Ealing Station is a few minutes walk from the hotel, from there you can catch a train to central London in less than twenty minutes. 

One of the things about the hotel is the excellent breakfast, but the coffee was always a little disappointing. Interestingly their sister hotel, the Fox and Goose on Hangar Lane did a similarly excellent breakfast, but also had a coffee machine, so I could get my morning espresso hit.

I was pleased to see on my most recent visit to the Drayton Court Hotel that they had installed a coffee machine. This meant I could have a double espresso with my breakfast.

Pleased with that.

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Steak Bowl from Marrakech Grill

In April last year I went to the Leather Lane Street Food Market in London and had a very nice steak salad bowl from the Marrakech Grill stall.

The salad were excellent, the chips were crisp, and the steak was delicious. I was really impressed with this bowl of food.

Though I have the preference for the Bristol street food markets, you can’t really dismiss the range and choice of food at the Leather Lane Street Food market in London. So on a recent visit to London and buying some lunch I headed off to Leather Lane. I did think about visiting the Mediterranean Grill having had some nice food from there, what I thought was recently, but was in fact back in 2021. However I found it was closed. I walked up Leather Lane and when I saw the Marrakech Grill stall, I remembered the food from my previous visit, so decided to go for it and have a bowl.

There was a bit of a queue, which to me is always a good sign.

This was a very generous bowl of food, with a range of mixed salads, chips, and a good sized portion of steak.

You can choose from a range of salads, I did think about having a bit of everything, but in the end chose a nice variety. It did cool down a little bit by the time I got back to the office, but even so, the salads were delicious. The chips could have been better, but they were nice. The steak was tender and tasty. I really enjoyed the bowl and would have it again.

Interesting the price had gone up, when I last had it, it was six pounds, this time it was nine pounds.

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Nice coffee

cup of coffee

Popped to Caffe Nero on Farringdon Road for a coffee. I had a skinny flat white. It was well made (even if there was no coffee art). It was a bustling cafe, but didn’t feel busy. A place I may visit again.

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We’ve run out…

I was back in London and staying at the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I have been staying here for a fair few years now. It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast. West Ealing Station is a few minutes walk from the hotel, from there you can catch a train to central London in less than twenty minutes. Downstairs is a bar with an extensive menu, that changes on a regular basis. They do a fantastic Sunday lunch,  and you also can get freshly cooked wood fired pizza as well.

Going down for dinner to eat. I decided I would have the whitebait and the pork belly. However, they had run out of pork belly. So, I decided to abandon the whitebait, and go with just the ribeye steak instead. This was Owton’s 8oz rib eye steak with triple-cooked chips, grilled tomato, baked field mushroom and peppercorn sauce.

The steak arrived, it was dressed with the grilled tomato, baked field mushroom, and some rocket. The chips came in a small metal bucket, and the peppercorn sauce was served in a miniature saucepan.

steak

The steak was cooked well but needed extra seasoning. The chips were crisp, with a fluffy centre. I also enjoyed the tomato and mushroom. I am not really a fan of peppercorn sauce, but this was nice and peppery.

Overall it was a good plate of food and one of the better steaks I have had at Drayton Court.

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Crispy Crab Burger

I was back in London and staying at one of my regular haunts, the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I have been staying here for a fair few years now. It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast. West Ealing Station is a few minutes walk from the hotel, from there you can catch a train to central London in less than twenty minutes. The hotel has an Ealing comedies theme, there are rooms named after films, and there are numerous photographs from the films framed on the walls.

Going down for dinner, I had the fish tacos for my starter, I had considered the whitebait which was on their specials menu, but after thinking about it, I went with the tacos. What they did have on the specials menu was a Crispy Crab Burger with triple cooked chips as a main course, so I went with that. I do enjoy crispy soft shell crab, and have liked it when I have had it before, however I do remember saying back then:

…the deep fried soft shell crab was crispy, but didn’t have the crab taste intensity I was expecting. So overall I did enjoy the food, but was a little disappointed with the soul of the dish, the crab.

Even so, I did have quite high expectations. The burger arrived with a side of triple cooked chips in one of those mini metal buckets.

crab burger

As well as the crispy crab, there was avocado, lettuce, tomato, and sauce.

The crab was wonderfully crispy, some parts tasted of crab, some did not.

I liked it, but I wasn’t blown away.