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.

Visiting The Old Siam

I was up in York for a few days and was looking for a place to eat close to where I was staying.  I had noticed The Old Siam when I had gone for a walk along Micklegate. This was a Thai restaurant with wooden floors and batik wall hangings.

When I arrived it was quite busy, but I was given a warm welcome. I was shown to my table. I liked the atmosphere of the place, and there was a real buzz about it. The wooden furniture offered an informal dining experience which I liked.

There was quite a lot of choice of different Thai dishes on the menu, but in the end I decided to go for the salt n pepper soft shell crab as a starter followed by the mixed seafood pad cashew nut as my main course.

The salt n pepper soft shell crab was soft shell crab in a tempura batter with garlic, salt, pepper and served with sriracha sauce.

The batter was nice and crispy and I liked the crab, which had a real crab flavour. Sometimes when I’ve had battered soft shell crab, the crab can be somewhat tasteless. This time I could definitely taste the crab. The sriracha sauce was a little too spicy for me. However, despite that I really enjoyed the crab.

It wasn’t long before my main course arrived. This was stir fried light battered mixed seafood with roasted cashew nut, carrot, onion, red pepper and mushroom. Alongside I had a serving of sticky rice.

This was a nice dish. There was a good mix and portion of battered seafood. I did think the batter as a little thick in places, but there was a nice crunch. The sauce was nice and there was a good amount of cashew nuts. The sauce was nice and it worked well combining all the aspects of the dish together.

Overall I really liked the food here, the service was excellent, warm, and friendly. I was tempted to go again, but I know if I am up in York again, I will try and visit The Old Siam.

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.

Soft Shell Crab Burger

I have had some really nice food from King Fin on previous visits to the Finzels Reach and Temple Quay markets, including some excellent calamari and (some okay) fritto misto. 

On a recent visit to the Finzel Reach market I went to the King Fin stall. They had fish goujons, calamari was back on the menu, and they also had the soft shell crab burger. I’ve always liked the idea of the soft shell crab burger, but always went with something else. This time, I decided to shell out for the soft shell crab burger.

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

Soft Shell Crab Burger

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

The burger was not as good as I was expecting. The bun though 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 was expecting. So overall I did enjoy the food, but was a little disappointed with the soul of the dish, the crab.

Time for some Oishi

Back at the beginning of September I was staying in Brentford for work and I needed to have something to eat. I did think about going out to eat, but I was tired. I knew that there were a few takeaway places nearby, one which caught my eye was Oishi.

Having had some great sushi at Obon a few weeks earlier I did quite fancy some more Japanese food. 

I went with the Yaki Udon, stir fried Udon noodles with vegetables, garnished with pickled ginger, spring onion & sesame seeds.

I also ordered the Assorted Tempura which was two crispy battered prawns, two soft shell crabs, three squid, and six vegetables.

I ordered online for pickup. This process was simple and the staff were friendly.

Getting back I looked at what I had. The Yaki Udon was in a bowl and the tempura was split across two individual bowls.

I have to say it looked good, but alas it wasn’t as tasty as I thought it would be.

The Yaki Udon was overpowered by the sauce, so much so, that I couldn’t actually finish the dish. It needed a lot less sauce.

The tempura was interesting, quite greasy, more like something I would get from a chip shop rather than delicate crisp tempura. I did enjoy the tempura, but the greasiness eventually got to me.

Overall I had high hopes for the food, but was left disappointed.