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.