Ducksoup - authentic in a different way

Slightly overdue but better late than never...

Wandering through Soho on a Friday night in June, we decided to have something to eat. A simple decision really but 'Soho', 'Friday evening' and 'table without a booking' rarely go together.

So after hearing there was a 1.5 hour wait at a tried and tested staple, I spotted a vacant table.

Ducksoup opened at the same time as places like Burger & Lobster and probably another branch of the Polpo empire . It was reviewed positively for its quirky approach to handwriting menus and good food, and then it went quiet - for no apparent reason.

So when I noticed a vacant table for two near the door, I jumped on it (not literally) and found ourselves in a very small but very atmospheric restaurant. A bit French, a bit trendy but unpretentious, the aforesaid handwritten menu appeared. No starters or mains but the dishes 'get bigger as you go down the list'. No wine list apart from a [handwritten] whiteboard behind the bar. No lots of things but there is one thing that I've not seen for ages - a record player!

The food was excellent - and it really was, but I forgot to take any pics so you'll have to trust me that the artichoke hearts were to die for, the clams in a broth with pancetta and fresh peas were delicious and the sea bream was cooked to perfection - even the sour dough bread was amazing.
And everything was interspersed by a very cool track from an LP (that's a vinyl record to all you millennials)
 
It just kept going - all these amazing tracks from the 70's and 80's even to the point that I saw Club Tropicana going on and raised my eyebrows to which (what turned out to be) one of the restaurant owners said ' you have to trust me on this one - it always works!' and I think it did.
 At one point, the record player stopped working and I was very concerned, but they managed to get it working again and the tracks just kept coming. I refused to leave until I really had to.

Ducksoup is one of the quirkiest restaurants I've been to in a long time. Lovely staff, lovely food and amazing 'authentic' entertainment! Go.

Pizza East meets West

As my chief eating companion has temporarily moved out West to Ealing, we're taking the opportunty to discover places that we'd never normally go to.

One of those places is Pizza East which we would normally have gone to in Shoreditch but as it's just opened in Portobello, we thought we'd check out the locals up West.

Walking up Portobello Road at a time when the market is closed is a new experience and slightly disturbing, given the number of shops that are now empty and the signs in those still open demanding that the influx of chains should be stopped. As I know of one tenant who is walking away from a successful business following a rent increase by a greedy landlord, I don't understand how such huge amounts of money can be asked of small businesses, or even justified in the midst of a recession. But that's another story

Pizza East (West) has taken over the corner site of what was the Fat Badger pub. Beautifully fitted with what looks like the original floor and some of the original tiling, Soho House has done a great job in making the space into a beautiful neighbourhood restaurant. Occupied by the beautiful people of West London, many of whom appear to be continental, Pizza East (West) has a very continental feel about it. Seating at the bar, lots of small tables next to each other, seating outside...it all works very well.

The service wasn't brilliant (but they had only opened 3 days prior to our visit and had a kitchen fire in the process so I can't complain too much) and the waiting staff were nice enough. We counted six chefs in the pizza preparation area which looked big enough to hold just two so there's obviously a big learning curve in place!

The food was good and I'm sure will get better as everyone gets to grips with things. We started with some deep fried aubergine which was good albeit a little undercooked. Followed by two pizzas; Portobello mushroom, taleggio and oregano pizza, and courgette flower, ricotta and marjoram. The latter came without ricotta which was a fairly major big oversight and overall both were good, if a little too much of a doughy crust (well I did live in Italy for 3 years so you have to expect me to pick holes!).  And then a salted caramel tart which was calorie ridden and very very nice.

One clever thing that they have done is to make more use of the woodfired oven with dishes such as slow-roasted whole baked salmon, whole beef fillet or whole pork belly, which looked really good

Pizzas are around the £8-£10 mark which is acceptable. Wine seemed very expensive - particularly as they serve it in 50cl carafes so you seem to be paying a full bottle price for only 2/3 the amount.

BUT it's a nice place, the food is pretty good and if it was this good in the first week, it's going to be really good in a few week's time!

Wheelchairs: a quick guide for restaurants and town planners

Having a wheelchair user in my family has allowed me to see what it's like to be pushed around London and how restaurants can make life very easy or a complete nightmare with very little effort

London is now one of the best European cities for wheelchair accessibility. This is good news for the pram brigade and probably helps bicycles in some weird way too

But there is one thing that really makes a difference for wheelchair users (and their pushers) and it's all about customer service.

* Please note I refer to 'pusher' rather than 'carer' as my Mum usually explodes with laughter when I am referred to as a 'carer'. References to pushers and users should be taken in the right context

A little insight is probably helpful here.

Pushing someone in a wheelchair is HARD WORK.
Being in a wheelchair is NOT PLEASANT, especially for people who have been able bodied for most of their lives and don't enjoy having to rely on others.

So here are some tips...

DO talk to people in wheelchairs. They generally still possess the power of speech
DO make space for wheelchairs. Otherwise it will hurt when I hit your ankles
DO help people in wheelchairs and ask if they need anything. They (and the pusher) will appreciate it

DON'T BLOCK THEIR VIEW. You can stand behind a wheelchair and still see perfectly well so give them some space - particularly at events/exhibitions
THINK AHEAD. If you can save a wheelchair an extra trip, the pusher and the user will be extremely grateful. e.g. if you can get something done with a quick phone call, then don't insist on sending the wheelchair user/pusher up four floors
MAKE TIME for wheelchair users. Yes, they will take 10 seconds longer to seat but it's very hard to hurry when you can't control parts of your body.

For anyone reading who can influence town planning and building regulations, please note that there are a few key areas that still need improvement...

1) Cobbles
Yes, London has many cobbled streets. You won't notice until you cycle or wheel someone over them and then you really notice them. They are very nice to look at but hard work and painful for wheelchair users. Is there any chance of a discreet wheelchair/cycle/pram lane?

2) Drobbed kerbs
I have been known to wheel my Mum along the streets around the Strand and Regent St/Piccadilly because we couldn't find a dropped kerb to get her back on to the pavement. The taxis were very scared as we were going faster than them but it's not ideal.

3) Wheelchair ramps/access
Let's face it, if there are steep steps into your venue, a ramp is probably not a good idea as 90 degree ascents are not simple for a wheelchair to cope with. Take note COTE Covent Garden (whose staff were actually brilliant and physically lifted my Mum plus chair up said steps)
Equally, telling a wheelchair user that the access point is another trek around the back of the building isn't exactly the most motivating. AXIS @ Number One Aldwych.
And directing wheelchairs up a ramp into a very crowded cafe with not quite wide enough doors and multiple hurdles isn't very helpful either TOM's KITCHEN.
How can any of the above be acceptable means of access?

NOPI: Alice in Wonderland mirror spins and unexpected outcomes

Quick entry this week.

After a quick drink at Hix bar with Twiglet sustenance added on to our bill as a non-optional but much enjoyed extra, I was lucky to be invited to Nopi - apparently stands for North of Piccadilly (which I checked and it is)

Nopi is Yotam Ottolenghi's new venture. I've never eaten an Ottolenghi meal before so my previous image of his cuisine was 'very attractive male chef concocts dishes with an eastern mediterranean influence that look and taste delicious and cost an arm and a leg'.

First Impressions
We walked in to a fairly sterile environment with few soft furnishings but some lovely light fittings and the quintessential bowl of chillies at the welcome desk. They found our reservation and the table was ready which was a good start to the evening. Our waitress was brilliant. Friendly but not too much, informative but not dictatorial, available but not overbearing. In short, faultless

The Food
The menu is split into vegetable dishes, fish dishes and meat dishes. There are no starters or mains here as it's all about the small sharing plate trend. A trend that has been welcomed by London foodies and puts an end to those miserable people who don't like sharing and those naughty women who steal chips off their boyfriends/lovers/husbands' plates.

We chose five dishes: two veg, two fish and one meat. They were all delicious and seemed to get better and better as different ones arrived. Flavour combinations such as blood orange with burrata and coriander seeds were spectacular. Seared prawns, fennel, white oregano and feta proved that fish and cheese can go together beautifully and braised lamb belly, mixed mushrooms and sumac was just stunning. The plates aren't huge but there are so many flavours going on that you relish every mouthful and your palate will be exhausted by all the excitement by the end.

The Surprise
Now, here comes the interesting bit. Our food took a little while to arrive. Not hours but probably a little longer than expected. I had time to pop down to the AMAZING toilets and do a couple of mirror spins without missing anything and still had time to chat some more so it wasn't a problem. But when the dessert menu arrived, the faultless waitress announced that because said food had taken a little while, they would offer a pudding or sweet dessert wine on the house - even though we hadn't said anything! Now that doesn't often happen.

And so two glasses of dessert wine came our way.
Go to Nopi. It's great!

And just to finish off, I revisited my previous view of Ottolenghi as follows: 'attractive ISRAELI chef concocts dishes with a MIDDLE EAST & ASIAN (geography was never my strength) influence that look and taste delicious (SPECTACULAR) and cost an arm and a leg...BUT IT'S WORTH IT!'

Invisible extras - Hawksmoor chips to service tips!

When and why is it acceptable to add service charge to a restaurant bill?

The subject of countless debates... Why should service be charged as an extra? Why isn't it covered by the restaurant staff's wages? How much should it be? Do the staff receive it? Is it better in cash? Why is it so much?
So here is my starter for ten...
1) 'Why is service charge extra?' We are a nation of non-tippers (unlike our friends in the US) so we find tipping very uncomfortable.  The easiest answer is to say 'it just is'. Restaurant staff work very hard and are paid very little. When you look at the margins that most restaurants work to, you see very quickly that there's not much left for wages. Service charge is the staff's incentive to do a good job.
2) 'How much should it be?' If service charge wasn't automatically included on your bill, how much would you honestly leave? More or less than if it had been included at 10-12.5%? At least if it's already included, it's a simple decision
3) 'I don't think the service was that great - why should I leave a tip?'
If you have bad service, you are entitled to not pay the service charge based on having a good reason for doing. But if you have decent/acceptable service, don't be stingy.
4) 'Should I leave it as cash?' 'Who gets the service charge?' There's no easy answer as this can vary enormously - always ask your waiter/waitress who will be exceptionally grateful to you.

When is service charge WRONG?
1) When you sit at a bar and someone passes you a glass/bottle/cocktail from the other side - that's just wrong and should be stopped with immediate effect!!!
2) When the prices are extortionate to start off with
3) When the service is dreadful - and I mean, really bad

Food for thought...

Restaurant of the Week
I had the pleasure of visiting Hawksmoor Seven Dials this week. I'd heard the hype and called to book a table on a Monday night for 8.30pm. Not a chance so a reservation was made for 9.30pm. Fortunately, true to form, my Italian friend was very late so it didn't make much difference BUT it did allow me to check out the bar which is beautiful!

The Bar

I earwigged the bar staff's conversation about the bar manager who knows more about cocktails than the rest of them put together (praise indeed as these guys knew their staff) and is obsessed by great glassware with lots of weird and wonderfully shaped glasses to suit both customers and the drinks. After a while, the chat became a little nerd like as they obsessed over cocktail trivia so I focused on a mint julep that used gin instead of standard bourbon and came in its own shaker. Delicious! When the Italian eventually arrived, I was forced to try their 'fancy gin cocktail' which they had kindly warned me was a little strong. And yes it was so that's the last photo I took!

The Food
We ordered our food quickly and picked a 900g Porterhouse steak. The food here isn't cheap. At £6.50 per 100g, this came to £58.50 and whilst it sounds big, there's a big bone in the middle which reduces your portion size to adequate as opposed to generous. The steak was beautiful but what really grated was the fact that everything else costs extra...from sauces like bearnaise or stilton at £2 a pop, through to triple cooked chips and buttered greens at £4. OK to the buttered greens but sauces and chips should be thrown in at prices like that.

A saving grace is that on Mondays, corkage is reduced to just £5 a bottle (usually £25) so we splashed out on a great bottle of red to make the most of the deal and thoroughly enjoyed it.

For once, we also had a pudding - peanut butter shortbread with salted caramel ice cream. I don't normally have puddings but this was AMAZING! And even better with a dessert wine and an apple brandy!

In summary
I still think that the rib of beef at Great Queen Street/Anchor & Hope is exceptionally good value...and it comes with chips. BUT the experience of Hawksmoor Seven Dials is definitely worth a visit...on a Monday when the corkage deal is on!

Dishoom: tepid to luke warm!

There's a new bit between Leicester Square and Covent Garden called St Martin's Courtyard. Someone managed to excavate a space and has planted the new Bill's Produce Store, yet another Jamie's Italian (yawn), a couple of shops and a Bombay Cafe called Dishoom.

I was pondering over what Dishoom actually meant so I checked their website to find out...

DISHOOM /dishu:m/ n.
1. The old Bollywood sound effect produced when a hero lands a good punch, or when a bullet flies through the air
2. Similar to popular slang usage of the expression “Mojo”; e.g. “He’s got that Dishoom

Do I believe it? No.

The Venue
Anyway, semantics aside, this is a beautiful restaurant and it has a beautiful website and beautiful waiting staff (can you guess what's missing?!).

With ceiling fans, comfortable booths along one side, little lights hanging down with those bulbs where you can just see the filament glowing, and lots of 'old' Indian ads/pics/photos on the wall, it's a great mix of colonial meets fast modern.

It's open from 8am to 11pm and has a menu that is simple but covers every meal/snack opportunity through the day. I love the time bar on the website that you can move through the day to see the different menus come up.
The staff are young, beautiful and very helpful. Which is a good thing really as the food isn't that great.

The Food
We started with Keema Pau which is spiced minced lamb with hot buttered bread. Unfortunately the buttered bread tasted a bit like cold supermarket muffins and the spiced mince was tepid on arrival at the table. The spicy lamb chops were average (try Mirch Masala for the best ones) but the chicken berry biryani was good and the house black dhal was tasty. 

The Problem
Unfortunately everything was luke warm at best, which, combined with cold plates and a nearby aircon unit in overdrive, meant that within seconds everything felt like it had just emerged from a chiller unit. Disappointing. When I mentioned the temperature issue to the waiter, he said that things were still a little bit disorganised as they'd only opened five months ago. Hmmm, five weeks and I might have forgiven them but five MONTHS?!

The Verdict
The concept of a Bombay Cafe in Central London is brilliant and Dishoom has all the ingredients to make this place a huge success - but they need to get the food right so I'll return when they've sorted it. For the moment, I'll stick to Mirch Masala in Tooting which might not look so cool but the food is hot, tasty and great value for money

#Meateasy or Easymeat aka no frills burgers!

Once upon a time there was a mobile burger van. It had a massive following but just before Christmas some nasty people stole the van. To keep business going and to help save up for a new motor (insurance people are clearly being difficult as ever), someone waved a magic wand... and #Meateasy has taken over the first floor dining area of Goldsmiths Tavern in New Cross Gate for a short time only.

New Cross Gate is not the most salubrious of destinations which gives the whole concept an added element of excitement. Equally entertaining is the fact #Meateasy isn't really signed and as the pub downstairs is being renovated, there's an added buzz to the occasion when you go through an unmarked door and up some 70's carpeted stairs into a dark, eerily lit dining area.

Immediately, you're welcomed by a hostess who explains to you the ticketing system. With raffle ticket in hand, you wait for your number to be called for you to order. This is all very well in an environment of gentle muzak and gentle chit chat but here, the music is really loud (it's good though - O Brother Where Art Thou meets Motown) and the place is packed with people yelling to hear each other speak! Add to that the extreme low lighting, precarious seating, walls papered with peeling pages from a Gore Vidal book and the occasional megaphone interruption of numbers and names being shouted over the top of all the other noise - you won't be bored here! The bar was also very cool with weird and wonderful concoctions appearing in jam jars (yes really but I forgot to take a pic)

So your number is called and you go and order anything from a simple cheeseburger and fries to a Hippy Burger, a Yuppie Burger, Macaroni Cheese, chilli cheese fries, onion rings or a Chilli Dog

Then wait for your name to be yelled out by a waitress as she clambers her way through the mismatched tables, chairs and benches to serve you your food on a rather luxurious paper plate or bowl.

Is the food good? My cheese burger (£6) was great and the onion rings (£3) were perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside followed by that lovely burst of oil so you know you've just consumed a billion calories but every single one was completely worth it! I tried the macaroni cheese and, as expected from a true carnivore, wasn't overly impressed - comments welcomed from vegetarians. I also watched someone else [who clearly enjoyed their food a lot!] demolish their chilli cheese fries in a mouthful. So I think they were quite good.

Now when I look back on it, £9 for a burger and chips isn't so cheap after all, especially when it comes in such a no frills environment. It's so dark that it's hard to see what you're eating but the serving staff do a brilliant job in keeping everything coming and clearing tables and all with big smiles on their faces. It's a great experience and definitely worth popping into - I'd much rather eat inside over the winter than be outside a burger van (and I'm sure the owner is much cosier too)

So my advice to EVERYONE is ...come to #Meateasy for a loud, tasty and entertaining experience! But don't come here for a quiet romantic dinner.

...and finally, take heed all those pubs that are struggling to make their food businesses work - get someone in who knows what they are doing and you can have a mutually beneficial arrangement.