Miller and Carter, Ruislip

Miller and Carter are self professed experts in steak, so what better place to go to for my birthday meal with the family. So we arrived at 3.30 on a Saturday afternoon to a quiet restaurant, I had heard great things about this place so was excited. 

Upon arrival we were shown to our table by the Maitre d', whom I think we disturbed as she seemed less than pleased to see us. I think the Maitre d' was having a bad day as she was grumpy throughout the meal. 

To start we decided on a few starters to share; 

Lemongrass and chilli tempura king prawns, bourbon glazed pork belly, and chargrilled chicken wings. The bourbon glazed pork belly was particularly delicious, the pork was very tender with a sweet sticky smoky glaze.

Next was mains....

Our mains did not arrive until over an hour later!! The lettuce wedge was given 10 mins before our mains arrived, at this point we were all ravishingly hungry, we were trying to ration out the lettuce wedge as we did not know how much longer our mains would be

My main had arrived; 14oz T-bone steak served with parsley butter, seasoned fries, a slice of onion loaf, balsamic glazed beef tomato and peppercorn sauce. 

The description of the T-bone steak on the menu sounded delicious and I couldn't wait; it is described as "On one side a tender fillet, on the other a flavoursome sirloin, recommended at least medium rare". I had asked for it medium rare". When it arrived it looked good, however as I was so hungry from waiting so long I think I would of eaten anything.  As I cut into the steak, it felt tough, and to my shock it was cooked well done. For the self-professed experts of steak not to be able to cook a steak medium rare, this was a big disappointment. I made the waitress aware of this, who firstly said that the steak should be cooked medium rare towards the bone, so I cut the steak infront of her, shock horror, also well done. Then she had mentioned that the steak was thin and could not be cooked medium rare, to which I mentioned to her if this was the case then the menu should be changed to reflect the fact that the chef could not possibly cook a piece of steak like this medium rare. It felt as though the waitress was trying to come up with as many excuses as possible not to send the food back. She did offer to take the steak back, however mentioned that the next steak would be cooked the same, and she could not tell how long this would be. Having waiting over an hour for this steak, I was not prepared to wait another hour for another one, so tried as hard as I could to eat this. But the steak was tough and dry. The onion loaf was oily, the tomato was nothing special and the fries were crispy, but I think they were bought in a just fried in the restaurant. 

The waitress was apologetic for the steak and did remove one of the steaks from the end bill, as 2 t-bone steaks were ordered and both were well done even though it was asked for medium rare

I wasn't going to blog about this experience, as I was telephoned by the restaurant manager and offered a £20 voucher to return, to which I was going to use so I could write a more positive review, however this offer was two weeks ago and still no email received, so I would like to make everyone aware of my experience.

Overall:

Food: 3/10 (mainly for the bourbon glazed pork bites)

Service: 3/10 (extremely slow)

Price: 7/10 (price were reasonable for steak, but bad value for money on the taste)

A long time away

It's been a long time since I've blogged anything, I've only instagrammed by food journey. It's been a hectic time, but now I'm determined to be back reviewing. Hope you enjoy

Shake Shack, London

Burgers are "fashionable" at the moment with many American chain burger outlets setting up shop in London.

Shake Shack originally from New York arrived in Covent Garden in July. I've resisted the hype so far but as I was working in the area, thought I would give Shake Shack a try.

As expected anywhere in Covent Garden during lunch time is busy, Shake Shack, you queue up, pay, and they give you a buzzer to let you know when your food is ready, then you collect your food from the window.

I ordered the "Smoke Shack", Cheesy Fries and Peanut Butter shake.

As I was waiting I could see all the smiley customers beaming as they received their orders. But what I saw actually saw was tiny burgers going past me, and all I was thinking was hopefully my burger will be bigger.

The "Smoke Shack" is a cheeseburger with bacon, chopped cherry peppers and shack sauce. I like the contrast of slightly spicy pepper with smoky bacon but the burger patty, I ordered a single. The burger was a bit smaller than I expected. It reminded me of a McDonald's burger. Their cheesy fries should be eaten straight away; eaten in rather than being taken away as the cheese sauce congeals which isn't pretty. So far wasn't impressed. Peanut butter milkshake, which I was really excited about, since their name was Shake Shack, this has to be amazing... especially since it's over £4 for a milkshake!!!

The milkshake was uninspiring, it was just a milkshake nothing worth writing about.

All in all, I wasn't inspired by my trip to Shake Shack, and since this meal cost me over £14 (on what  I have no idea, as I was a little hungry afterwards). As I was eating I was thinking I should have gone to Five guys instead or McDonald's. Maybe the burgers in America are bigger because these aren't normal American sized portions.


  

Sawadika, Holborn

There's lots of places to eat at lunch time in Holborn, this time I tried Sawadika Thai restaurant.

They have a lot of lunchtime specials, the one I went for was spring rolls, main and a drink for £9, which is pricey for lunch but fine for a treat once in a while.

The spring rolls were nice and crunchy. For main I ordered the pad si-ew; stir fried flat rice noodles with a mix of chicken and tofu. The tofu was nice, it was soaked up the flavours in the dish, the chicken however was a little dry. This place is ok for a lunch time meal if you want some Thai food.

Looking at their website, they have called the restaurant "Fine Thai Restaurant", I'm not sure whether this means fine dining or whether it is fine/ok/satisfactory? The decor of the restaurant is modern and "fine dining" like Hakkasan, dark decor, dark wooden tables etc. Or maybe "fine dining" in as smaller plates and small portions. My lunch was ok size (those aren't giant spring rolls by the way), it might have been a little small for some people. The lunch came with a drink, I opted for a lemonade; this was small, it was slightly bigger than those small cans you get on the plane with ice. Soft drinks are £2.95 normally from the menu, if this is the normal size they give you then I would not be happy at all; it would be such a rip off. When you first sit down in the restaurant for lunch you are greeted with a bombardment of menus and special offer leaflets. If the restaurant is aiming for fine dining then they should get away with all these separate papers and stick with a main menu and a drinks menu.

All in all not bad for a lunch time treat.    

Jamie's Italian, Reading

Eating out on Friday is a tradition for most, easing you into the weekend. 

It was Friday night and I really fancied pasta, what better than to head to Jamie's Italian. By the time I reached Jamie's I was ravenous and couldn't wait to eat.

It was a lively Friday night, the place was decorated with fresh pasta and hanging legs of ham, making the place look rustic.

I was too hungry that I was too busy eating the starters before I realised I didn't take a picture, but anyways, had the fried three cheese gnocchi and crispy tomato and mozzarella arancini.

Both were delicious, both were served with arrabbiata sauce, except the one served with the gnocchi was slightly sweeter, which I preferred as it was like sweet chilli sauce. 

There was a really long wait for mains. So long that you get beyond the point of hungry and no longer feel hungry anymore. We asked the waitress where our mains were to be told by the waitress that because it was a Friday night it was busy and that they were on their way. I should have order an additional starter or the bread selection to keep me going. 

When main finally appeared; crab spaghettini. When you watch Jamie on TV, he's constantly telling you to put the pasta in the sauce and that the sauce should coat the pasta, but mine was a little bit separate. It was missing, maybe a cup of the starchy pasta water he's telling us to put. I wasn't overly keen on this, the crab was there, it did have the sweet fresh taste of crab but it just didn't wow me. Looking at the menu, if you're looking for pasta, but say have an allergy to shellfish and don't eat pork for any religious reason, there's only 3 pasta dishes for you; one with rabbit the other two the vegetarian option.

What I did like were the drinks; blueberry & basil smash and the ginger mojito. Both fresh, light and zingy. 

I have no idea what was in the food but that night I was so thirsty!! The type of thirsty that I get when I've eaten a meal that has MSG in it. I'm sure Jamie's don't put MSG in their food but it must be something for me to constantly wake up throughout the night.  

Overall not wowed by the main but possibly in future a great place for drinks and snacks. 

  

Hawksmoor, Air Street

I've heard so many great things about Hawksmoor Seven Dials that it has always been on my must visit list. When I was given the opportunity to visit the Air Street Hawksmoor it was like a dream come true.

The decor inside is very art deco, glitzy; I loved the stained glass windows, chunky wooden veneer tables and the jade green booth seats. Ava Gardner would have felt right at home here.

To start I had the crab on toast with mayonnaise. The crab was sweet and fresh. You have to be a lover of crab to appreciate this dish, otherwise you might be underwhelmed by the lack of oomph with the taste of just crab. Beware of shell in the crab though. Compared to the crab on offer at J Sheekeys, I much prefer Hawksmoors, because beneath what looks like just a leaf garnish were capers and julienne of gherkin which brought the dish to life giving it a zing against the sweet mellow crab.

For main: I really wanted to try the chateaubriand but just couldn't decide how much I could actually eat so thought I best keep it safe and go with a pre-weighed steak thinking I could gobble up a rib eye, I chose peppercorn sauce on the side. Of course I had to have chips, but had a choice of beef dripping fries and triple cooked chips.

When the steak arrived it looked a little sorry for itself, all lonely on the plate, no garnish, not even a little bunch of lambs lettuce like the usual steak place offering, nothing.

When I cut into the steak it was tender and juicy, I could see why so many people come here for steak. The peppercorn sauce on the side was amazing, creamy with a little kick of pepper, I could of drunk the gravy boat serving of peppercorn sauce and been so happy, but since I was in public and faced the potential of sauce dripping down my face I decided against it.

The fries were super crispy, I think I would of preferred the fries pimped up a bit, flavoured with some rosemary or garlic, to make it even more interesting. The triple cooked chips were amazing. They were crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside, perfect to mop up my peppercorn sauce, even better at the bottom of the chips tub were the little chipped pieces of chips which were super crisp as a little treat at the end of the meal.

They serve ketchup with steak. I didn't quite catch what type of ketchup it was but it was delicious. There was a deep intense taste that I couldn't work out what it was, it tasted like it had in the background like mushroom or anchovies, that deep taste that wild mushrooms and anchovies give without been "fishy" etc. Just be careful with the ketchup bottles as ours was messy once opened.

Whilst eating, a gentleman on a nearby table ordered the Potted beef and bacon with yorkshires. The reason I didn't order this was that I didn't want to appear to be a beast by ordering a meaty starter and a meaty main so went for the crab. When the potted beef and bacon with yorkshires arrived I knew I should have ordered it. The yorkshires looked like giant pillows of fluffiness, it looked so delicious, I was drooling just looking at it, and have fancied yorkshires ever since. I'd definitely order it next time.

The service was friendly and comfortable and not pretentious giving a relaxed atmosphere.

Lasting memory; if only I could have the steak with yorkshires and peppercorn sauce. I'm going to have to go for the Sunday roast here!!!

Elliott's Cafe, Borough Market

Happy National Burger Day

What better way to celebrate National Burger Day then to head to Elliott's Cafe in Borough Market for a cheese burger. I've read many reviews raving about the cheeseburger at Elliott's so I had to give it a try. 

The cheeseburger came with fried maris piper potatoes which were like roast potatoes really, really crisp but still light and fluffy on the inside. I tried picking the burger up with my hands and eating it but after just one bite all of the burgers juices escaped and made me look like a messy beast!! Their napkins were pristine white linen so I succumbed to the fork and knife instead. The burger was served pink and was great; big, fat and juicy. On top of the burger was onion and melted cheese. The onions tasted like the onions you get with your Sunday roast gravy; sweet onion, deep and beef-like tasting which were delicious. Spread on each bun was I can only presume olive oil with a bit of dill mixed in, to bring the whole burger together. 

The menu just states this as Cheeseburger with fried maris piper, so you have no idea what you are expecting, could it be just a simple, plain burger? Nope. The burger comes looking simple but tastes delicious, all of the flavours complimenting each other, so understated. 

The only thing I wasn't too keen on was the ketchup, which tasted as though it was made from honey, slightly too florally for me. Regular, plain Heinz ketchup would have made this a perfect dish for me. 

It was a little bit big for lunch so I didn't have enough room for dessert, never mind there's always next time.