Month: September 2008

Benja on Beak Street

Heading for Apitivo on Beak Street for Italian tapas, what a shock to see it had healed up. “For a refit” said the notice. Phew! Don’t want to lose that one. However, where to go instead? We’d passed a likely-looking fairly up-market Thai place called Benja at no. 11,...

Slight fizz

I bought this at Marks and Spencer, as it was on offer, at £3.99. I’ve never heard of something only slightly fizzy before, so it was quite the novelty. It’s a rosé and 11.5%, but apparently made from Chardonnay, which I can’t understand due to the colour. It comes...

Chocolates in the street

Pleasant young people in T-shirts wee handing out free chocolate bars in the street. I was intrigued as I drew level, then one was offered to me. Hmm. Cadbury’s dairy milk cranberry and granola. It’s an intriguing combination, and I guess it’s been inspired by the vague feeling people...

Tea at B

My friend had the tea, pictured above, which I never drink because of the caffeine content, which I try to avoid where possible (although after a large, boozy meal, I find a small cup of black coffee hits the mark perfectly). I was told it was magnificently fragrant; just...

Value for money

Picture from the FT Weekend 20/21 September 2008. On Tuesday evenings, after a trip out for an adventure of sorts, – after school pickup – I normally buy my sons fish & chips from our local chip shop. The shop we go to has recently been transformed by a...

Turkish Coffee

I remember my 10th Birthday in 1995 quite well, my father made me a millionaire – this was of course in Turkish Lire where we went on holiday. On this holiday I bought myself a turkish coffee grinder (Kahve Degirmeni) which I found a few days ago – 13...

Salmon strips at Caramel

Dinner at Caramel in Wilton Road. There were outside diners, but this time I tried it indoors. To begin with, borek, the filo parcels of feta cheese and spinach, and the Thai fish cakes. At some places these can be on the rubbery side of firm, but these were...

Asia experience

It opened in mid-August and is a sure bet for great food already. The service is very polite and courteous, too, not to mention very professional. We ordered a pink sparkler – A Laurence sparkling rosé, ‘collection privé’ from France. It was literally smashing stuff, with the waiter dropping...

Sunday brunch near the clock

Brunch at the Chop House was very good. We sipped buck’s fizz as we waited for our smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toast – excellent. But the view was as interesting as the food. It was the new clock outside Corpus Christi library on the corner of King’s...

Late Pizzas

Madam Butterfly took a couple of hours, finishing about 10pm, including an interval, so we had a late quick meal at Pizza Express, round the corner on Jesus Lane. We shared a bottle of Nero d’Avola Shiraz, which was Sicilian, which went very well with my pizza – a...