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!!!