[Food] Restaurant 2024 thread

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Who eats pizza with a knife and fork? Deviant behaviour. Worse than that though was a couple of friends of mine who ate their tacos with cutlery at a recent lunch.

I’m with @BrightonCottager on this one. I always eat pizza with a knife and fork but in my case, it is partially because I can’t have cheese on my pizza so there is no goo to hold it together.

 

[BrightonCottager]

Who eats pizza with a knife and fork? Deviant behaviour. Worse than that though was a couple of friends of mine who ate their tacos with cutlery at a recent lunch.

Well, when I was in Rome eating pizza the night before Fulham's game in the Europa League, I looked around the restaurant and it was half cutlery and half fingers (& no, the cutlery contingent were not other Cottagers). So in answer to your question, half of Italy!

 

[Bakero]

Well, when I was in Rome eating pizza the night before Fulham's game in the Europa League, I looked around the restaurant and it was half cutlery and half fingers (& no, the cutlery contingent were not other Cottagers). So in answer to your question, half of Italy!

The deviant half I used to live in Italy and, you're right, some people do indeed use cutlery. I may have even done so myself on occasion. Tacos are definitely a hand to mouth job though.

 

[Braggfan]

Who eats pizza with a knife and fork? Deviant behaviour. Worse than that though was a couple of friends of mine who ate their tacos with cutlery at a recent lunch.

For any Seinfeld fans

 

[schmunk]

Does anyone else follow Alexander The Guest? His YouTube channel was suggested to me by a friend and I rather like it. His presentation style can be a little one dimensional at times, but what I like is the restaurant background and history and the dining room observations that he provides at the top of each review and the clear filming and dish descriptions. Favourite reviews are L'Assiette Champenoise, Le Bernardin and Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester.

https://youtube.com/@alexandertheguest?si=uDc3HPTYDQlGSmBR

Beardmeatsfood is more my style...

 

[Half Time Pies]

Last week we went back to Cin Cin in Hove for a midweek lunch. I posted a while back about how expensive it was when we last went on a weekend evening however sticking to the lunch menu, avoiding extra sides and going easy on the drinks the meal came to £90 for two of us which was very reasonable. I thought the food was great but my wife was less impressed as the lunch set was quite restricted to pasta and risotto (which she isn't a massive fan of). We had been on holiday to Sicily a few weeks ago and I appreciated the Sicilian influence in quite a few of the dishes, like the Panelle starter which is a chickpea fritter Sicilian street food, and pasta all norma (aubergine pasta) which is one of the most common Sicilian pasta first courses. It's got a nice relaxed feel in there and seemed a bit busier than some of the Hove restaurants we have visited for lunch recently.

 

[Springal]

Finally got to Fallow in London yesterday. Fairly hyped since it opened and I like the owners jib having seen them on Saturday Kitchen a few times. No waste concept, as much made in house as possible - they even have a ‘mushroom room’ in the restaurant where they grow a variety.

Great food & service, enjoyed sitting at the counter top overlooking the open kitchen. All the beef is ex-dairy super interesting taste / colour to it. Didn’t have it but watching the smoked cod’s head being finished and served was an experience ! One for HT perhaps …

Wasn’t to spendy considering the location, we didn’t have it but their set lunch for £40 looks excellent value. They’ve just opened a sister restaurant ‘Roe’ in Canary Wharf, bit more focussed on casual eats - flat breads etc but the same no waste concept.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Finally got to Fallow in London yesterday. Fairly hyped since it opened and I like the owners jib having seen them on Saturday Kitchen a few times. No waste concept, as much made in house as possible - they even have a ‘mushroom room’ in the restaurant where they grow a variety.

Great food & service, enjoyed sitting at the counter top overlooking the open kitchen. All the beef is ex-dairy super interesting taste / colour to it. Didn’t have it but watching the smoked cod’s head being finished and served was an experience ! One for HT perhaps …

Wasn’t to spendy considering the location, we didn’t have it but their set lunch for £40 looks excellent value. They’ve just opened a sister restaurant ‘Roe’ in Canary Wharf, bit more focussed on casual eats - flat breads etc but the same no waste concept.

This restaurant, and that dish especially, is very much on my radar for next time I’m in London. I have read and seen a number of reviews and everyone speaks highly.

 

[Machiavelli]

Burnt Orange
Went there for my birthday with our 17yo, and it worked really well. Lots of sharing plates, interesting largely northeastern flavours, lots of grilled stuff and more from a pizza-esque oven. Nice vibe. We all enjoyed it, and would go back but it's a restaurant for certain scenarios and not others. Favourite dishes include the smoked molasses pumpkin, apricot tandoori cauliflower, chicken thigh, flamed sea bream and flat bread. The lamb cigars have got a lot of attention and, as pleasant as they were, I wouldn't rave about them.

Went back to Fourth & Church the night before and had yet another great meal and spent far too much money on some utterly stunning wine (Equipos Navazos Manzanilla, Boillot Macon and a Spatburgunder if you want to get involved). Despite the cost of the meal (or wine if we're being more accurate), it's still way way cheaper than their equivalents in terms of quality.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I’ve banged on about my local restaurant, called Lokal, and their versions of surf and turf before. Tonight, after a deer heart starter, I had raw pork, pan fried sardines and roe. A great combo with lots of taste and texture contrasting. If you’re in Berlin please visit this place.

 

[Bakero]

I’ve banged on about my local restaurant, called Lokal, and their versions of surf and turf before. Tonight, after a deer heart starter, I had raw pork, pan fried sardines and roe. A great combo with lots of taste and texture contrasting. If you’re in Berlin please visit this place.

You had me at deer heart

 

[Guinness Boy]

You had me at deer heart

Oh yeah!

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I’ve banged on about my local restaurant, called Lokal, and their versions of surf and turf before. Tonight, after a deer heart starter, I had raw pork, pan fried sardines and roe. A great combo with lots of taste and texture contrasting. If you’re in Berlin please visit this place.

Btw, the raw pork was seasoned minced raw pork which is known as Mett or Hackepeter.

I’m still thinking about this dish 2 days later.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

Btw, the raw pork was seasoned minced raw pork which is known as Mett or Hackepeter.

I’m still thinking about this dish 2 days later.

Because it's still coming out of you?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Because it's still coming out of you?

Ha ha. Good point. Bowels are still intact.

 

[Half Time Pies]

I was invited to a mates Birthday party at Cote in Brighton over the weekend. This place for me sums up everything that is wrong with some generic chain restaurants.

The service was terrible and the food extremely underwhelming, the french onion soup was tepid and flavourless, the corn fed roasted chicken that some of my friends had looked like it had been delivered by nando's and sat under a hot plate to dry out for an hour! My wife's £12 starter of seared scallops was basically some shrivelled up tiny scallops thrown on top of a pile of frozen peas!

The last time I visited a 'Cote' was in St Albans and must have been at least 15 years ago. It was pretty uninspiring back then and I can't work out for the life of me how these places stay afloat. The meal came to £120 for the two of us without deserts.

 

[goldstone]

I was invited to a mates Birthday party at Cote in Brighton over the weekend. This place for me sums up everything that is wrong with some generic chain restaurants.

The service was terrible and the food extremely underwhelming, the french onion soup was tepid and flavourless, the corn fed roasted chicken that some of my friends had looked like it had been delivered by nando's and sat under a hot plate to dry out for an hour! My wife's £12 starter of seared scallops was basically some shrivelled up tiny scallops thrown on top of a pile of frozen peas!

The last time I visited a 'Cote' was in St Albans and must have been at least 15 years ago. It was pretty uninspiring back then and I can't work out for the life of me how these places stay afloat. The meal came to £120 for the two of us without deserts.

In order to offer an alternative opinion, I have been to Cote restaurants in a number of different towns over a number of years and have found them consistently good. Good food, good service, good value. Last one was Sloane Square last month. Very good.

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

Just been looking at the Gymkhana menu, at the top of every menu it has:

Oscietra Caviar 30G £100.00 Fresh Black Truffle £25.00

Is it popular with Russians?

Gymkhana have recently started doing cook at home sauces, available from Ocado, and they are really good.

The best I've tried so far is the butter masala, but the vindaloo is pretty good too. The tandoori is a good marinade and is recommended to use in tandem with the other sauces.

They're not cheap, but they are cheaper than a takeaway, and better than most.

 

[Machiavelli]

Gymkhana have recently started doing cook at home sauces, available from Ocado, and they are really good.

The best I've tried so far is the butter masala, but the vindaloo is pretty good too. The tandoori is a good marinade and is recommended to use in tandem with the other sauces.

They're not cheap, but they are cheaper than a takeaway, and better than most.

My local butcher has just started stocking these and, strangely enough, was contemplating getting one for tonight's dinner. I usually have a vindaloo when I get a take-away and that's as hot as I go, but am cooking for others that don't go quite that high, so how hot is theirs?

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

My local butcher has just started stocking these and, strangely enough, was contemplating getting one for tonight's dinner. I usually have a vindaloo when I get a take-away and that's as hot as I go, but am cooking for others that don't go quite that high, so how hot is theirs?

It's pretty hot. I'd recommend you go with the tamer butter masala, coupled with the tandoori marinade. The marinade ramps up the heat a bit.