No Expert …but I know what I like – Food Blog, Restaurant reviews – Page 44

5th View Bar & Food @ Waterstones Piccadilly

5th View Bar & Food is a standout for a cafe/restaurant.
Surprisingly it is also located in a book store. It does really good inexpensive cocktails. We spent a couple of hours there relaxing over cocktails, sharing a meze plate and finishing with coffee and cakes (the carrot cake has to be one of the best I have had – sweet, light and moist).

The menu choice is limited, but what they do provide is simple, good quality, nicely presented food.

There are two dinning areas, one of which has a lovely view over the roof tops.

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What’s coming in September

This month we have plans to revisit some of the restaurants covered in this blog :-

London

Foliage – to see what has changed following Chris Staines departure.
Osteria Dell’Angolo – to try out their new menu.
The Berkeley – for Afternoon Tea.
Tom Aikens – to see if we can visit and not over order.

Barcelona

Cinc Sentits – to support one of our all time favorite restaurants.
Comerc 24 – to see if it can deliver on a return visit.
Cuines Santa Caterina – for the Catalan sausage with foie gras.
El Jardi – to chill out.
Moovida – to enjoy their excellent bar food.
Tram Tram – to eat top quality food at a reasonable price
Tragaluz – because it’s open on a Public Holiday!

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Thailand Festival at Secretts

A departure from the normal theme for this post, to cover a food festival rather than a restaurant, the 7th Amazing Thailand Festival at Secretts to be specific.

Secretts farm in Milford, Surrey is a stunning location, especially when the weather is as good as it was today. This is a very well organised and popular event, focusing on both Thai food and culture.

The event included cookery demonstrations from celebrity chef Ob-oom “Mini C” Chutrakul.

The Festival takes place every two years so plenty of notice for the next one.

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Foliage replacement – the gossip!

As you will see from the earlier post – Fairwell to Chris Staines, the Foliage is not going to be with us for that much longer in its current form. I do not know the exact date of its demise. According to our sources, the plan is to combine the space currently occupied by the Foliage and The Park Restaurant to provide a new 140 cover restaurant (Heston Blumenthals London flagship). Most of the area currently used by the Foliage will become the kitchen. A new (temporary) restaurant will be housed in the basement while this work is going on.

Update : November 2009 – Looks like the basement restaurant is not going to be temporary after all, as New York restauranteur Daniel Boulud is opening Europes first Bar Boulud restaurant in a previously unused space beneath the hotel.

Update : January 2010 – The latest information seems to be that the Foliage will be closing sometime in March.

Update : March 2010 – We attended a fairwell lunch at the Foliage, for details see post:

Foliage – The Last Post

Marcus Wareing…a bit thin?

This was my first visit to The Berkeley to experience the 2 star Michelin cooking of Marcus Wareing. A chef that many critics believe to be eclipsing the cooking of his former boss Gordon Ramsay. I must say the room was very impressive. Unfortunately the cooking didn’t live up to expectations. I did get the chance to try the famous custard tart. It was certainly an amazing texture. It was so light that it seemed to defy the laws of physics. You’d think it would collapse under its own weight. I didn’t think the taste was that great however so overall was not that impressed.

This restaurant is currently number 52 on the S.Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurants list and has 5 AA Rosettes.

Marks out of 10

Food 6

Service 6

Ambience 8

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Not recommended – Candidates for the worst of the worst award

Here is a list of restaurants based on my experience that are worth avoiding:-

Restaurants in the “Worst of the worst category” that have their own posts:-

Restaurants that do not have their own posts:-

Beau Rivage Palace (La Rotonde) , Lausanne – snooty service and tasteless cooking in a very grand setting.

Marks out of 10

Food 3

Service 3

Ambience 7

Fortunately this place is now gone, replaced by Anne-Sophie Pics new Restaurant.

Casa Calvert, Barcelona– dull, with bad service. My main course arrived with the jus dripping off the side of the plate, the waiter did not even notice. The modernista decor was not enough to justify the visit.

Marks out of 10

Food 3

Service 3

Ambience 3

La Dama, Barcelona – beautiful building, very disappointing food, check out the prices on the La Dama website too, this is most definitely a tourist trap.

The wine list however is first class.

Marks out of 10

Food 2

Service 3

Ambience 5

Restaurant Terrassa, Barcelona – when lit up with fairy lights at night this place looks stunning (from the outside), then you go inside and it looks very dodgy. Eating here was a big mistake.

Marks out of 10

Food 1

Service 1

Ambience 1

At the end of the year I will nominate the Restaurant that qualifies as the worst of the worst for 2009.

For the other end of the spectrum, see the Best of the best.

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