One in a million….
January 30, 2010 at 11:07 am | Posted in Tea | Leave a commentTags: tea leaves, Turkish tea
Ceylon One have a wee stall in Borough Market selling a range of loose leaf organic fairtrade tea, including Earl Grey, green tea and orange pekoe. The staff are chatty and happy to talk about the types of tea and you can taste the teas. I plumped for Borough Breakfast, a loose leaf orange pekoe which is from a single estate in Sri Lanka and is apparently seasonally picked. You can buy the tea in packets or small tins. The orange pekoe is large leaf and it gives an aromatic and tasty cuppa which is strong without being overpowering or tending towards builders tea. Apparently the size of leaves means you get a more delicate cup. A very good cuppa.
Am currently also drinking Royal Siyah Cay, which is produced by a company called Dogus and which I bought in my local Turkish corner shop. As such, this is Turkish tea and is loose leaf and broken into small pieces. It gives a strong cup which lacks some of the delicacy of an unbroken peokoe but it still has quite an interesting flavour quite different to the usual Ceylon or Assam. I prefer the large leaf orange pekoe ceylons, I think, but this is definitely drinkable. The Dogus website also has some really interesting info about producing and drinking tea.
Ping Pong, Festival Terrace, London, SE1
January 23, 2010 at 12:30 pm | Posted in Restaurants, Reviews, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: London, restaurant
Score: 7.5/10
Ping Pong has a number of branches in London serving dim sum, this one is on the South Bank. The decor is dark, with a range of tables for two and larger tables which you can share. It took us a wee while to be greeted and seated at the beginning and a wee while and two requests to be given the bill at the end, but in between the service at our table was great. The music is a little on the loud side and there isn’t really enough space to put coats (although the benches do have handy shelves underneath the seat to place belongings.
In terms of food, when you sit down your waiter brings you a menu plus an order form and a pencil. You mark up what you want on the order form and hand it back. As food arrives at the table, the waiter then crosses it off the list. There is a real range of dim sum, and a number of set menus. These include a good number of veggie choices across the whole menu including the set menus, so definitely a thumbs up.
Between two of us we had five dim sum to share – I think next time I’d go for six between the two of us. The things I liked best were baked puffs, steamed dumplings and a clay pot of seasonal veg and rice. Sticky rice parcels are good but a bit fiddly to eat. I’m not so keen on the steamed buns – bits of veg essentially wrapped in white bread and steamed (I’m sure there is more to it than this, but still) – just ain’t for me. The best thing, though, were the drinks – I had a cranberry juice with anise and goji berries, which goes down as one of the best soft drinks I’ve had anywhere.
I didn’t have any tea (shock!), but the menu does have a really good range of green, white and flowering teas and a couple of infusions. Another good point is that the food menu does change every so often, so we had a different of dim sum than on our last visit.
The pricing is reasonable – five dim sum, extra sauces and two drinks came to £29 including service.
I’d definitely come here again, and also think this would be a good place to come in a group. Very good!
Carnevale, Whitecross Street, London, EC1
January 16, 2010 at 2:31 pm | Posted in Restaurants, Reviews | Leave a commentTags: London, vegetarian restaurant
Score: 7/10
Carnevale is a mediterranean vegetarian deli and restaurant near the Barbican. The front section as you go in has a deli counter that does take away, and then the back of the room opens out in to a small restaurant with around four or five tables, plus another couple of tables in a small conservatory right at the back. It looks like it’s had a lick of paint since we last visited and some new tables, there is no background music and one small but clean loo. Service is friendly, but a little too quick.
On a cold snowy wintery Saturday evening, with many of the trains into and out of London stopping early due to the weather, the three of us arrived fairly early – around 6pm – and had the entire place to ourselves for the entire time we were there, so this was our own private dining experience!
We started with hot drinks – Earl Grey, blackcurrant tea and a decaf latte. We ordered when the drinks arrived, which was probably a mistake on our part, as the food then arrived before we’d finished the hot drinks and warming up process. Anyway, the starters we had were goats cheese parcels with a rocket salad (very nice, too much salad, a huge big plateful for a starter), chilli quinoa with apricot chutney (very nice, and the right size of portion, but somewhat on the bland side, I wasn’t actually tasting any of the chilli) and rocket and grilled halloumi with tomatoes, spinach and rocket (nice if fairly standard and safe option). All were very good, but it did become clear early on that rocket was going to be something of a recurring theme! Possibly some over-ordering in the kitchen…
For mains, which again arrived a shade too fast, we had two fennel and potato cakes with Provencal casserole and rocket, and one stuffed pepper with rice and grapes and tomato compote. The fennel and potato cakes were terrific and tasty, the casserole was very nicely cooked with lots of summery if not seasonal veg, but a bit on the bland side – could really have done with a big hit of garlic or some chilli. The peppers were excellent too, stuffed with creamy rice and grapes, but again maybe a touch bland.
We had more drinks – two homemade lemonades and an elderflower presse. The pudding selection was good, including a creme brulee, a crumble, sorbet and bread and butter pudding, but none of us had room to try them. On that note we wandered back out into the cold, wondering if there table set out for two meant that we wouldn’t be the only customers or whether they might take the opportunity to close early.
The bill came to £68 not including service.
Overall, this is a nice veggie restaurant, but probably somewhere I would return to if I was in the area more than a restaurant I would seek out for itself.
West Yorkshire Playhouse Cafe, Leeds
January 9, 2010 at 11:19 am | Posted in Cafes, Reviews | Leave a commentTags: cafe, Leeds
Score: 6.5/10
The West Yorkshire Playhouse has a large self-service café on the first floor, in a big light and airy space. There are lots of seats, including a few booths, and so getting a table here isn’t a problem, although it does get busier prior to performances.
The food includes pre-packed sandwiches, baked potatoes, a choice of two soups and a choice of three pre-prepared main courses from the hot plate. There are cakes, fair-trade tea and coffee and a really good range of soft drinks.
Upsides – serves dandelion and burdock and nice vegetarian soups. The range of cakes and biscuits includes Honeybuns. And there’s lots of space. Staff are also nice and friendly.
Downsides – the veggie selection is poor. Soup, nice as it was, was essentially the only feasible veggie option on the day we visited (our other choices being uninspiring, a pre-packed cheese sarnie or a quorn fillet).
A trip through Newcastle
January 1, 2010 at 3:08 pm | Posted in Restaurants, Reviews | Leave a commentTags: Dragon House, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Nudo Noodles, Settle Down Cafe
It was a cold, dark night in Newcastle, we needed somewhere to eat and were looking for somewhere central. We happened past Nudo Noodles on Low Friar Street. It looks nice and modern, and the menu has a number of veggie choices and fresh juices. We went in – to find that the alarm was faulty and kept going off every few minutes. So unfortunately we decided we couldn’t sit through the alarm and went looking for somewhere else. I’d definitely come back when the alarm is fixed though.
Back out on the street it was by now raining, and we headed onto Stowell Street, Newcastle’s china town. Went into the Dragon House, which is about half way along, and offers a sort of 1970’s chinese restaurant experience. Between us we had veggie tempura (very nice), sweet and sour cashews (nice, but in a luridly red sauce that I think had my own personal e number allocation for the whole year in it) and bean curd in black bean sauce (fine, bean curd very soft) and rice. Including a jasmine tea and a juice this came to £28 inlcuing service, which seems pretty good value. The staff were really helpful and friendly. The soundtrack was varied – Christmas numbers and Kylie! Don’t know that I’ll hurry to return here….
Anyway, then on the walk back through town went past a really great looking place called the Settle Down Cafe on Thornton Street. It looks really nice and has a breakfast menu that includes granola, bagels and fair-trade tea and coffee. Next time I’m in Newcastle I’ll be coming back here to try it out…
Black Dragon Formosa Oolong Tea
January 1, 2010 at 2:44 pm | Posted in Tea | Leave a commentTags: Tea, tea leaves
Black Dragon Formosa Oolong, available from Whittard’s and I’m sure, many other retail outlets to boot, is a nice refreshing afternoon sort of cuppa. Gives a light coloured tea, but actually quite a strong woody, smoky sort of flavour. It will take milk and goes down nicely, I’d recommend. Would probably go nicely with cake, as it would cut through the sweetness…
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