Clarion Hotel - St Albans

Hotel's own picture

Have you ever been to St Albans? Have you ever heard of St Albans?
The first time I visited St Albans earlier this summer, I was looking all over for all the good things I was told about this city…

For some reason, people are so taken with St Albans, but I do not see why. For me when you descend on a city, if the area around the high street, the train station which is the door to the city is not impressive. 9 times out of 10 the city will not be impressive.

The corridor

Just in case you are tired

I didn’t like the town much the first time I visited it, and I didn’t like it either when I revisited early autumn, but one thing, no two things will make me return... the hotel I stayed in and the Café Rouge I had dinner. I stayed at the Clarion Hotel right at the heart of St Albans.

 Wow! What a hotel. The whole hotel is very modern art-deco with a lot of brown tones and just a dash of reds and green striped on the rugs along the bedrooms corridors.


Bar area

Upon entering the hotel, to the right there is a very busily decorate bar and TV space where there are way too many chairs for my liking, but the beige of the various shaped chairs bounces of a lot of lights in this small space. This space must be bathed light whenever the sun rises on this city.


To the left of this small bar we find the hotel reception. Very very small reception area… A traveller with 2 large suite cases would block the circulation here and people using the lift might not be able to get pass while new arrival are still checking in with the great and chatty receptionist who was in shift when I checked in.

My room was on the 2^nd floor and I must have walked passed at least 3 fire doors before getting to my room. The corridor though a bit dark were darted with beautifully upholstered chairs and lightly colored large rugs… I didn’t like the room doors.


This was my room

Entering my room, I was greatly surprise by it spaciousness, didn’t like the twin beds, but was not troubled by it.
 I loved my room, the decors and all the black white picture framed in black frames. The same picture frames where in the bathroom. This room also had a fauteuil where I slumped myself and rose with my shoeless feet on the nearest single bed… Ahhh! Ihat is comfort!

My night at this hotel was the best in a long time and given how comfortable I felt, £79 a night was too low for the quality of the place. I do not like St Albans as a town, but will definitely visit again to stay at this hotel. What a place!

PS: the hotel doesn’t have its own restaurant but, the Café Rouge next door where I had dinner it a very good match… Café Rouge offers discount to hotel guests.

I’d mark the Clarion 4/5 as far as hotels go.

Do checkout their website and see better picture from the hotel at www.stalbanshotel.co.uk/

See you soon!

The Reviewer.

The White Rabbit - Maidstone - Kent

My room at the White Rabbit

I recently visited a town called Maidstone in Kent and my overnight stay was in the White Rabbit pub/hotel.
Funny how in some places the customer isn’t always king. I believe that, if I am going to be parting with cash for your services, I must be treated with attention.  In my own work, I offer no less than I would expect. I always stand in place of the customer and think of what he/she would feel seeing this, or that, accessing this or that and being served this way or the other.

Having entered some businesses in this country, I think I would fire half the staff in B&B, hotels or restaurants I visit.

So, we arrived in the White Rabbit after 8pm and the front desk was at the bar. We were ignored for what seemed like an eternity. It didn’t seem as if the place had enough staff to cover the bar and the B&B clients.

Right there on the bar/reception, there were giant flower vases in which water had not been changed for few weeks in my opinion… I would say at least 3 weeks. The flowers were dry and the water was dirty within them.

When we were finally spoken to, the technology didn’t seem to be up to scratch. It must have taken at least 30minutes between the waiting time and being shown what direction the rooms where.

Having been nudged in the right direction, we discovered what seemed like a maze. The doors numbering were so confusing that it would have been just easier if the staff had bothered telling which room was up or down or furthest… and we did all these up and down carrying our luggage and could not return to the reception/bar for help… We’d just had been ignored I am sure.

When we finally found our respective rooms, my colleague who starts work before six am ended up not having his dinner after all that effort.

I on the other hand was hungry and after ditching my luggage decided to head back down stairs to get some dinner… Given the state of the flower vase, I decided to go for a very simple dish... stir fried seasonal vegetables with pan fired salmon… Nope nothing to write home about… some of the vegetables where stone cold and where served with yogurt for some reason and completely tasteless… well, at least the pattern is consistent.

Stained bathroom

Upon returning to my room, I set to have a closer look around. The room was very old and it was a cold night… No instructions on how to work the radiators either. The lights were not too bright, which is good because I may have found more reasons to be uncomfortable.

The loos had not been cleaned properly as the detergent was still waiting to be washed away. The shower area had a massive scale stain on the wall and some hair languishing near the plug hole.

Needless to say we didn’t have the best night sleep at the White Rabbit despite the comfortable bed.

Don’t think I would recommending or checking here again…

Specially would recommend that they remain a pub and work on their customers’ service.

 

The Reviewer

The Royal Albert Hall – Cloudy bay Wine bar

I recently went to see Charles Aznavour in concert in at the Royal Albert Hall. I have never been at the Hall and was looking forward to seeing the inside... and, of course Aznavour. This guy is one of those French musicians who was always on the TV every Sunday afternoon as we relaxed waiting for a new week of school to kick off.

My friend and I arrive a bit too early for the concert and decided the grab bite before the event. So, we headed up to the Cloudy Bay wine bar on the top floor of the Royal Albert Hall.

The place was jam packed with Aznavour’s fans and French people bien sure. The Cloudy Bay wine bar is a very low ceiling narrow curved shaped space with soft lighting and all white decoration.  The lighting is very very soft to the point where you might be at risk if not recognising what is in your plate; I’ve got 4 eyes and still can’t see well…lol.

We went straight to the bar to order before seating and were blanked both by one of the chap serving behind the bar and by a circulating waiter who then, started to talk to us and then completely turn his attention to two older ladies who had just walked in…. aaarrrrgggggh! RUDE!

I found this really amusing; get this, my friend and I were two black 30+ year old ladies in a sea of Caucasians and other light skinned folks. I just thought these two clowns assumed that our cash wasn’t good enough… I do not actually enjoy being serve by such ignorant people. So, we stood there amused and watching the floating waiter trying to avoid us.

Another waiter whose it was the first day came to our rescue and showed us to some empty seat. He was much kinder and we really appreciated his manner and care. Hopefully he will never be tainted by the preferential treatment that his colleagues offer to walking clients depending on their skin colour.

Having wasted time waiting to be seated, there was only 30 minutes left for us to eat something before the show and we ordered the cheese platter, a glass of fizzy wine and a glass of Sauvignon blanc. Cost us £35.00. With quality of service received from the young Caucasian male we could not help but give a good tip while thanking him and wishing him good luck in the job.

It goes without saying that I will visit that bar again so that ignorant people like those waiters will get in the habit of treating EVERYONE in the same manner no matter their skin colour.

The concert was great and Aznavour even at 90 years still got it and his voice has not changed at all. His voice fitted really well with the décor of the Hall. I had never hear him live nor seen the hall before… Both were wow! Other than the wine bar incident, I had a great evening…

A bientot!

 

Desperados Mexican - Greewich, London

I am failing to understand what the deal is with some restaurants. You book into a Japanese restaurant and don’t get what you expect. Go to Mexican restaurant hoping to finally taste an authentic chilli con carne, and being served a watery version of the stuff.

So, this nice sunny afternoon I am meeting 5 friends for lunch. We all decided and ordered our meals at the same time.

For starters, I ordered BBQ ribs, 3 of my friends ordered a seafood starter and two other ordered fajitas.



My starters rib

Now this is how our food was delivered: 1 seafood and 1 fajita arrived at the same time. 10 minutes later my BBQ ribs, then another 10 minutes in, the second seafood arrived… that is already 20 minutes since the first seafood was delivered and we are still waiting for the last seafood and fajita to be delivered. We had to remind the waiter that we were waiting for the lasts starters. By the time the last seafood and fajita arrived, 4 of us had already finished their starter… Shocking service! The order wasn’t that complicated, my BBQ ribs could have been delivered last as it was the only one that didn’t have to be done in multiple…

Here is the picture of my BBQ rib… not impressive on presentation nor taste. I can safely guaranty to you that Lidl’s BBQ ribs taste much better than what I was served.



My chilli con Carne

Moving on to the Main meals; I ordered chilli con carne and couldn’t wait for it. I have made this dish many times and thought it was really good. The only place to beat my version was going to be a Mexican restaurant. So, when my food appeared I was really disappointed. It looked like a spaghetti sauce topped with kidney beans. The beans had not absorbed the flavours of the dish and most of them were still whole. I couldn’t taste anything that reminded me that what I was eating was chilli con carne.

The delivery of the mains was much better than the starters with one other faux pas; fearing that one of my friends could be burned by the heat from her plate, the waiter had added another plate underneath it. As she lifted her own plate we were all shocked to realise that the plate underneath was a dirty plate… Goodness me! How does this place remains open since 2002?

We all agreed not to have dessert as we had become a bit suspicious of the cleanliness of the place and decided to leave. We had spent 2 hours and 45 minutes in the restaurants and only consumed two dishes in a place that can contain only about 20 people at a time. On this occasion there were about 3 couples and our group of 5. So, the restaurant wasn’t full and there was no reason for the shabby service and the lack of attention for details.

Few words on Desperados loos; Disconnected to the rest of the décor, Simple, modern & clean.

This isn’t a restaurant that I would recommend, but don’t take my word for it. If you do visit Desperados Mexican on Greenwich church Street, do feel free to report back.

Heee Haaaa!

Abeno Japanese Restaurant - London

Abeno. Museum street. London

 When I hear Japanese restaurant, I can see with my mind eyes a crazy chef cutting raw meats with his machete, rolling and slicing sushi in an open kitchen and me, staring from other side of the room and appreciating the display of skills.

So, I was really excited when I was invited to dinner at Abeno restaurant in Museum Street. I have never been to a Japanese, but I am a big fan of Itsu and Wasabi. My feet always drag me to the branch near house of Fraser in in Victoria Street.

Table setting with cooking plate

Now. I am someone who believes in authenticity. If I go to an Italian restaurant, I expect to be served by Italian, Spanish, French, I expect to be served by someone who understands what is written in the menu and hat puts me at ease. As I walked in Abeno, I was greeted by someone who was not Japanese and had already decided that I will not like it. Even though he was the only non-Asian amongst the staff.

The restaurant was dimly lit and were I was seating, the rooftop was all glass with a view of the flat above the restaurant… really comical as when I lifted my eyes, someone was on the phone on their balcony.

Sat and waiting for our waiter to appear, I started running my hand on the table and that is how I discovered that the silver looking thing on the table was in fact the cooking plate. Question: why is there not a message of caution on these tables? Don’t they know that I could sue them for that?

Abeno staff cooking

The waiter finally came with the menus. My party had vegetarians and meat eaters. Since all 4 of us sat at the same table it occurred to us that all our meals were going to be cooked in front of us on this hot plate. The vegetarian seating near me was submitted to full sight of raw meats and the fumes of same when it was being cooked. Then, it came to cooking his meal, the other side of the plate was used. I am sure that he had some additional flavouring in his meal from the previously cooked meat dish as there was not real separation on the cooking plate.

Having already been disappointed by the fact that there was no sushi theatre and resigned to the fact that I will be stinking of cooked food when I leave theses premises, I limited myself to a simple stir-fried vegetable with some lotus roots. They got my dessert order wrong and gave mine to someone else. Since they had taken so long to serve me. All I wanted to do is pay and leave.

My main meal at Abeno - Safe

The entire restaurant seem to seat north of 40 people and there is only one toilet per gender, which I refrained from using as I had become really suspicious and doubtful.

I ended up spending £24 at Abeno and did not enjoy the food nor the samurai cocktail which I was told was the best... twaddle.

Abeno in Museum Street is nothing less than another version of a Chinese takeaway with food being cooked before you while you are being perfumed with the fumes from the stove/table.

Don’t take my word for it, give it a try and from your own opinion. I didn’t like it, my co-dinners who can’t boil an egg were impressed. Well. Each to their own.

The Reviewer

The Refinery, Southwark Street - London

THE Special offer

Can you see the photo above? Yes! That made me trek out of my town in Surrey onto Southwark on a Sunday afternoon after church!

Sunday afternoons are times to cook warm cosy dishes and chill out watching rubbish TV while desperately wishing that tomorrow wasn’t Monday  (I HATE MODAYS!)

So, as you know two weeks ago I went to the squaremeal event and it is there that I pickup up this leaflet for steak, half lobster, chips and bubbly all for £15.00.


The back entrance

So two friends and I, having reluctantly agreed to meet up and try this offer /this restaurant, we all agreed that the offer indeed would have been a waste not to have been tried it.

I  of course arrived late… Finally finding The Refinery at 110 Southwark street,  Looking from the outside, it seem like the restaurant was empty… weird. As I pulled the door I was thinking “oh my gosh, am I going to eat seafood and mad cow in a restaurant that is empty?”... I had entered by the back door. LOL

The empty side

Luckily, as I entered, it appears that only on side of the restaurant was being used. The Drunchers*, about 40 or 50 of them seem very hip and between 20-45 years old… I really like the look of the customers here. As for the décor of the restaurant, about 90% of the tables and chairs were bear wood, simply decorated with a candle and an actual pot of living herbs at the centre of the table. All around the room, were darted bunches and baskets of fresh fruits & vegetables which created a certain reassurance that all meals prepared were freshly sourced.

I am not a big fan of meat especially in the UK… In France, British meat is referred to as “Vache folle” which means mad cow… Diseased cows. So I have developed this thing in my mind imagining that most red meats carry these gremlins still growing. The only way I have learnt to eat meat in this country it to cook it to deaf in order to kill the gremlins too. The only thing is, cooking beef to deaf means chewy AND I am a very lazy chewer and have therefore kind of parked meats generally.


My food

Having seen this place, I felt reassured that their reputation was important enough not to want to poison me. I then proceeded to order my steak medium rare as part of the above deal with as side some house sundried tomatoes.
What you can see here is what my plate looked like when it was delivered… yes! It as tasted as delicious as it looked! The service was excellent and I ended up spending £25.00.

The only down side to the meal was that the lobster came full of water and nearly drowned the rest of my meal. I suspect the lobsters must have been frozen as the claws were as soft as fish cheekbones… that was minor…

the ladies

Having had to use my finger quite a bit, I needed to get rid of the fishy smells off my hands to avoid the “looks” on the tube, so I visited the ladies… All I can say is that I could have just pulled up a chair and have my food serve there if there was more light! I think that is the first beautiful loos I have encountered so far…

I really recommend The Refinery if ever you find your feet dragging you around Southwark or Blackfriars. I am sure that, even without the special offer you can end up with a feast at your table including drinks!

The refinery provides a great environment for a group of friends and family. There was a baby there when I visited, which was very refreshing to see as it seems the British society likes having children but they are barely accepted or seen in public/convivial spaces as part of the society...
The Refinery get 4.5 out of 5 from me!

Do let me know what you think after your visit!

Ciao!

The Reviewer.

Swallow Churchgate hotel - Old Harlow

Last week I visited a town called old Harlow for work purposes.

I am still chocked that there are still some towns so close to London that have such a small villagy feel to them. That is how I felt landing in Old Harlow.

As my train arrived at the station called Harrow Mill, it was so deserted that I am sure I heard  tumbleweeds rolling from afar… having worked out where the exit was, I walked upward towards what looked like a main road where there seem to be no soul to ask where the nearest taxi rank was.

To my left was a “hotel”, that I would call it a shelter. But what was written on the wall was Oasis Hotel… well, I walked in and asked if could get a cab number so I could go to another hotel about 10 minutes ride away.

As we rode through some zigzagging, deserted roads, I noted that some are of the road did not even have sidewalks… where am I?

As arrived to the hotel, it seem to be the only one in town and I also noted that there was a lot of movement. It is then that I worked out that some locals used the hotel as a restaurant, gym club, swimming pool and pub.

The entrance of the hotel was really well decorated and the reception area had a home living room feel to it.

As I collected my keys and walked to my room, I noted that the “good Impression” was limited to the reception area.

The walk from the reception to my room was unimpressive and things looked really old from the carpet on the floor to the rusty door handles.

My room looked really old too and desperately needs refreshing. The curtain reminded me of a granny front rooms curtain and the TV looked like what the same granny would have in her bedroom with 6-7 channels.

One good thing about the bedroom is that the bathroom was really clean, but I noted that the bath taps were really really rusty and also need changing. The hair dryer which seem to come from the 80s was the same colour as the floor.

As there was nowhere else nearby to have dinner, my only choice was to have dinner in the hotel restaurant; the menu card wasn’t inspiring and given how empty the restaurant was on this evening, I doubtfully ordered a safe dish for main… a Mediterranean salad with Halloumi cheese. I skipped the starter and to finish, I had a cheese platter that came with grapes… having taken a look at those grapes I became really suspicious of the rest on the content of my plate. The grapes where not presented as a bunch or still attached to their peduncles… closer examination told me that they had started to spoil. Needless to say that I left them and the softer cheeses untouched and didn’t ask for coffee.
I went to my room to make the coffee, and notice that the coffee making area must have not been cleaned for a while. I had to clean the cup and spoon with boiling water before using them.

I usually also look forward to the full English the next morning, but decided to skip it all together in this hotel… I couldn’t afford to be sick as I still have to put in a full day’s work.

I did have a good night sleep though and the shower jet was great too… Really appreciated that. Both were greatly needed.

If you are going to stay here I recommend you make some prior arrangements for food and drinks have minimum interaction with the staff and be ready to clean before using the following: remote, kettle, mug & toilet seat…

Up on speaking to the some locals, I was told that the hotel does change hand quiet often… this explains that!

1 out of 5 for this hotel. I don’t think I will willingly use it in the future. £75.00 for a single room with dinner, I think they should review their prices.

Don’t take my word for it, try it and let me know what you think!
Fancy checking it out visit the website here

The Wifi in the area isn't the best and I also lost the use of my cam-phone. Hence no pics taken. Sorry.

The Reviewer.

SquareMeal event - London

 

For the second time I have attended the SquareMeal event for events coordinator.
I must say, both times – last year and this year- I have been blown away by the whole thing.
If you are an events organiser, no matter what kind of events you organise, you will need to be in contact with SquareMeal and attend this yearly event.

At the SquareMeal event which is held in the Old Billingsgate building, you will get to meet and chat to people from all types of venues from hotel to restaurants. You will get to sample at times food or baked goods from the venue’s own chef. You will get invitations to tour some venues. Other venues will even put on a 3 meals courses during your visit to give you a full view of what they can do for you.

View of the outside lunch area - 2011 picture

Visiting those venues do at time help you to determine your style and what kind of things you would like to show your guests during the event that you are hosting.

Last year after my visit to the SquareMeal event I made so many contacts and had so many invitations to come sample food and champagnes at so many venues that I could have filled my social calendar for a whole 6 months after visiting those stands.

The other great thing about this event is that it is a free event. Both times I visited I have had to book it as a day holiday from work. This is just because it is the only way can guaranty that I would attend without the pressure of thinking that I have to report back to the office. I use this to open my horizons and find how I can be better at what I do.

Sometimes we have to invest our own time into what we are getting paid for and for me this is the way I do it. Besides. I think my job gives me already the privilege to tour the UK and try hotels and food in places I would not think of visiting of my own. It also gives me the freedom to choose the venue and therefore the privilege to enter in some private clubs. Which I would not otherwise enter without a good excuse.

Food from Hatfileds venues

Other things you get to do at the SquareMeal event is, being educated about wines, fizzy drinks and cocktails during present seminar. This year I also had the privilege to be a judge for a food completion on the first day of the event. We also had the privilege to hear the creator of the Green & Blacks chocolates… One of my friends got a boat ride to the venue and I missed out on the free taxi ride.

As I went home at the end of my day at the SquareMeal event, I was reinvigorated and excited about the new venues I might be using and visiting in the next 12 months… and my bag was full of chocolates collected from various stands. My colleagues at work thought I was too I give it to them the next day… free stuff are much easier to give… ah!

One down side is that there is too much sweet stuff on display… stands should consider bringing some savoury give away.

If you are into events, I really really recommend that you head to the Squaremeal website and register your details to receive not only the free high gloss magazine, but also be au fait with what is hot in your industry.

Hopefully, I will see you at the event next year. In the meantime, thank you so much SquareMeal for such a fabulous day! You get 9/10 from me.

Voila.

Nota Bene: none of the image here were taken by me as I didn't think I was going to write about my day. here is the only photo I took that is worth sharing:

YMCA B&B - Guildford Surrey



YMCA view from the train Station side

  Did you know YMCA offered B&B for overnight stay? Me either.


View of my room from the entrance

Last week I had to stay overnight in Guildford and given how unconventional my check in and check out were, I didn’t really want to be very far away from the train station. So, I google-mapped the train station and asked the search engine to find me the closest B&B. Up pops Guildford YMCA barely a 500 metres away from the station. Bingo!
So, I checked in late Thursday night. Not impressed. At this point, I was thinking about B & B not hostel. This, I did not realise until I stated to hear some over animated youths while I was trying try to wind down and recharge my batteries.

View of the storage in the single bed room

The check in was old school… nothing pre-printed, no computer involved as far as I could see when I was checking in. I got my keys and took the lift up. I wasn’t impresses by the smells… school dorm smell.

I booked an en-suite as I couldn’t stand sharing the bathroom for the sake of £10 or less.


A very clean shower and loos area

The bedroom although very Ikea like was very nice, basic and clean. With a flat TV and telephone… and no end of storage. That reminded me of the A Board I saw outside. At YMCA a student can stay for £146.00 a week. My night there actually cost me £55 including breakfast… I’d say I’ve had better for the same in other places I’ve visited.

I’d actually recommend this place for someone with a small budget. But for comfort and for a professional looking to rest before a long day, I’d say find somewhere else as those noisy students will drive you crackers all night.  Don’t take my word for it, give it a try.
The Reviewer


TOZI Restaurant and Bar - Victoria, London

TOZI menu by the door

Few weeks ago we planned a lunch do for one of my colleagues who is about to give birth. Unfortunately Two days before the planned lunch the mother to be got sick and we cancelled lunch…

I had my heart all set to going out for lunch so I convinced two other colleagues to join me for at TOZI Victoria.

As we entered the restaurant, we were greeted and seated immediately. It was early lunch so, the restaurant was a bit empty.

Just as we sat, our waiter came to speak to us…

“Hello, I am Raphael, I am your waiter. Have you been here before?”.  Nope, we have never visited TOZI. Raphael proceeded to explain to us what the type of restaurant was, in the process we learnt that Raphael was Brazilian… All I can say is that he made us feel welcomed, he dutifully explained to us how to order the dishes on the menu, what was in each dish etc etc

We ordered our drinks as we waited for our food to arrive.

While we waited, Raphael brought us 2 baskets of bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Pizza's station

View of the main kitchen

Looking at my surroundings to my left, I could see that open kitchen and further to the side there is a pizza station… with all sorts of cured meats and chopped ingredients to make fresh pizzas live on request ( suspect their Pizza must be better than that of my previous outing)… the boys at the station kindly answered all the questions I had … I am sure they found it strange, but I just wanted to hear them roll their tongs as they spoke English in that beautifully thick Italian accent… they even posed for a photo… Ask and you shall receive. Right?


In all we must have waited 20 minutes for our meals to appear in sizzling cast iron dishes.

I had ordered some Ox Cheeks with wild mushrooms and jus with a side of buttered wilted spinach and parmesan. One of the girls ordered smoked mackerel and the other asked for the swordfish.

Add caption

My Meal

I cannot remember the last time I ate Ox cheeks … it would have been in France and not in the UK. This was the first time I was seeing this on the menu in the UK and I wasn’t disappointed. The cheeks were melting in my mouth and I could also taste some red wine in it. I would have love to order another portion of this, but we were on a timer… Next time, I should order 3 portions for myself and just have some slices of bread with it. I quiet liked the spinach too... lightly flavoured, wilted in butter and topped with parmesan cheese.

My friends’ also enjoyed their food. There is not much to say about the presentation, but the environment and the service was really and relaxed. After our meal we ordered some coffees and they came with some amoretti biscuits free of charge… Appreciated touch.

This is definitely a place for a light lunch with colleagues. My lunch cost me £20.00 included drinks and service charge. I feel the prices on the card are correct.

As we walked out I stopped to take in the entrance of the restaurant which is a bar… the black and white photographs, the chairs, the glass wall and that Chesterfield looking sofa against the far wall was screaming my name… I promised that I would be back just for that sofa and a glass or two of wine… I think I should make this appointment a Friday after work type of affair…

Friday after work hang-out! Perfect!

I really recommend TOZI if you are visiting or working near Victoria.

TOZI is in the same building as the Park plaza hotel at the bottom of Vauxhall bridge road.

For further info click or copy this link http://www.tozirestaurant.co.uk

Asked to be served by Raphael. He is great! Don’t forget to tip!

See you there. :-)

The Reviewer

Pizza Express - Langham place, London

View of Langham place on top of Regent street

So, yesterday, I went to Pizza Express with some fellow volunteers…

I volunteer for a various homeless shelters 1-3 a month and our team decided to go out for dinner…

For the first time, we saw each other in our street out fits it was quite weird….. Any ways. The Pizza Express we went to was the one off the top of Regent Street on Langham place. What a great location! I was exited bout this. And I thought that given the location I would not be disappointed… I had great expectations.

Restaurant inside

See, I am not a fan of pizzas and DO not understand why oh why people like pizza so much. I am always imagining all that bread sucking up all the saliva from my mouth and doing a seating in my stomach then, refusing to find the rear natural exit.

As I walked in some o my fellow dinners were already seated… looking around, the place was quite empty for its locations… what is happening? This is a Saturday night…! I had a quick look around and really liked the deco which was a bit IKEAish with nearly everything being coordinated; the lamp shades matched the kitchen deco and the kitchen staffs outfits (blach and white stripes like the Daltons from the Lucky Luke cartoons).

My superfoods salad

As I stated to look at the menu there was not much for me there to order. So I decided to go for the super foods salad. It seemed really healthy and wasn’t going to bloat me. When the salad came, It kind of looked good. But as I stared tucking into it, I found it really dry, there wasn’t enough lentils and other (super) stuff I expected. There WAS plenty of leaves, but the vinaigrette was barely making it moist as it was nearly invisible… I struggled to finish my salad and on the 5 people seating on my side of the table, the four who ordered pizza empty their plates before I did mine.

Conversation and company was good, but I had decided that I will not order anything else from this place and didn’t get dessert. There is a Paul bakery 2 minutes away and I made it clear to my fellow dinners that my dessert was going to come from there.

On my way home I stopped at Paul’s and got a lemon tartelette, a chausson aux pommes and a pain au sucre with raisins… oooh yummy… this was going to make it all alright!

Sweet time!

I got home and made myself this little plate of sweetness with a lemony green tea.

Thinking of the restaurant, hopefully I will never set foot in a Pizza Express again. Still don’t get the attraction!

I did visit the ladies… the walk to the loos was really great. With really cute pictograms. The cubicle I chose had ran out of loo roll and the toilet seat was broken…. Lol just my luck.

PE  cute pictograms

Well, a location and a chain reputation isn’t always all that reliable…

Hopefully by the time you go visit, they would have up their game… as for me. That was the last time I was going in that branch.

at the end of the night, I had spent £11.00 in Pizza Express and £8.00 at Paul's. Can I just mention? Some of the stuff from Paul were for breakfast this morning.  

This morning's breakfast

Thank you for readin’!
See you the next time.

The Reviewer

Dinner @Kettner's - London

 
Oh… LOOK… IS GRAHAM NORTON!!!!

View from outside

That was me nearly screaming at the dinner table as I had just seen Mr Norton entering the restaurant where we are about to finish our diner.

We were having dinner at Kettner’s… Kettner’s? I hear you ask, YES THE Kettner’s restaurant in Romilly Street.

When I was told that we were having dinner, I mentioned that to my colleagues and they thought ‘ooh haa, you will see it is really impressive’. Some thought to have seen this restaurant in Made in Chelsea…. Really? I didn’t really care I had never heard of it.

Since checking out this place, I seem to notice it mentioned everywhere I look. It is a bit like, when you decide to buy the most original pair of shoes with the weirdest colour, you start noticing everyone is wearing the same pair… So, since we had dinner at Kettner’s, I have noticed it in the Square Meal’s venues & events magazine. The very same week, I open ESmagazine and et voila! Graham Norton is there. I actually got to know what he was doing there with all those people…. An after premier’s dinner.

So, back to the mundane bits. Kettner’s is situated in Romilly street, I knew that street before, but having heard all the good things about Kettner’s, I was very disappointed by its location. See pic… someone who isn’t sure might actually walk pass the restaurant in the day time without knowing.
When we entered restaurant, we were greeted by two receptionists posted on the tiniest reception desk I’ve ever seen, and who directed us to the bar was as we were a bit too early….According to Square meals mag, Kettner’s  has  one of the best champagne bars in London town… I can see why (photo too rubbish to post).

The best mozzarella ever

When the time came, we were led to one beautiful room where the tables were laid for our group of 18 dinners… in both ends of this small room which also contained weirdly, some old wooden chairs was a white piano… Loved that detail. Each seat had a place table with the dinner’s name and preselected menu…. What a beautiful touch. I had practically forgotten what I wanted to eat.

Two waiters were allocated to our group and their politeness and great genuine smiles added to the already beautiful settings. At this point, if the food had not been up to crash, it would not have mattered, because the ambience worth the price of the dinner. As we ordered our drinks the pianist took his seat and started to play some ambiance tunes… this “in between” room was entirely allocate to us with, behind us a much bigger and much much more sophisticated room which I promised myself to go check out with a date in the future. The room seemed much more seclude, with dimmer lights, but bigger than the one we where in… It reminded me of a French restaurant near Montparnasse in Paris.

As our dinner plates started to make their appearance, we all whipped out our camera and anyone passing through could hear us ooohing and uuuhhhmmming at the beauty and taste of the fantastic mozzarella that most of us had ordered for starters.

Then, dish number two came, mine was a lemon sole. I could not taste the lemon in my dish but, the softness of the fish and the delicate julienne of vegetables covered for that minimal sin.

Then came the dessert. Mine was a pavlova with a passion fruit coulis. I usually avoid meringues, hate cheesecakes, and crème brulee which were the other desserts on offer.

This pavlova tasted great and somehow wasn’t as sugary as I remember meringue to be. The one on my plate vas delicately baked and with a chewiness once you brake in the light outside… by the way, how do you make sugar less sugary? I’ve got no idea. If I was to eat a pavlova again, it’ll be at Kettner’s definitely.

As we emptied out dessert plates and commenting joyously about the whole dinner experience, I looked out of the window and there was Graham Norton! I am a big fan! We all got distracted by the big number of the faces we could recognise from the TV… What’s going on? Someone asked… we couldn’t ask the waiters… as we were a bunch of chavs venturing out of our usual “cercle”. We didn’t want to be seen as not being in our place, so, we did not ask what was going on as we saw all that “beau monde” retiring upstairs in the function room which we imaging was much more magnificent that were we were seating.

The dinner at Kettner’s was a great experience and at on under £45pp including drinks, it was worth it.

One disappointment though the stair and the ladies loos.

Get rid or change the paint

The stairs leading to the loos and upstairs function rooms are so tiny that if you are slightly tubby, I doubt you’ll feel comfortable utilising them. I wonder if Kettner’s is in a listed building. The ladies are a bit odd and slightly out of place in my opinion… there is random boudoir like seating in ladies loos’ entre-chambre, then, the actual deco is doesn’t follow through… Sort it out boys and girls please…

I won’t let that spoil my experience. I’d give this on 4.5 stars of 5. See you there sometime.

Visit http://www.kettners.com/ for more info about Kettner's.

 

The Reviewer