Loch Fyne Covent Garden restaurant 2-4 Catherine Street London WC2B 5JS
If you are into theatre, Loch Fyne at Covent Garden is very conveniently located between Fortune Theatre, Theatre Royal Drury Lane and Duchess theatre. I already reviewed this restaurant many months ago, and I am back this time for lunch with some colleagues.
Fish soup
The fish soup with garlic bread was a bit of a mixed experience. That is, the soup itself was quite average and also not hot enough. The garlic bread accompanying it, however, was very good – plenty of real garlic, and nice and crusty.
Pan fried sea bream
The pan fried sea bream was also good. It was a decent size (it looks a bit small in the photo, but actually wasn’t) and was nicely cooked with firm flesh and a crispy skin. The one thing missing here was any seasoning – I’m not especially given to having to add salt to my food, but in this case a little dash of it was needed. With that addition, it was a good meal.
Tarte tatin
The tarte tatin was a bit ordinary, and a slightly strange take on this classic dessert. Overall inoffensive, but nothing to return for either.
Cost and conclusion: I was not the one paying the bill. One complaint I would make about this restaurant was the incredibly slow service. We were a group of 10, which is always going to slow things down. But an hour between the starter and main course is really too long – and in all we were there nearly 3 hours. The last time I visited this restaurant, I concluded that it was probably a decent place for groups for lunch. I would change that view slightly and now say good for groups with time to spare.
Gourmet Burger Kitchen 44 Northcote Road, Battersea London SW11 1NZ
Cute Santa Kiwi at the bottom right
After spending a few hours at Wandworth Common taking photos of Egyptian geese we were starting to get cold and a burger sounded nice so we went to GBK where they had a Christmas menu including an interesting venison burger. I had to try it
We ordered one Christmas menu (with cajun chicken pieces, the venison burger, the portion of fries and the Christmas mince pie – £10.95) and a Kiwiburger (£8.15) with a side garlic mayo (£1.55). As drinks we had a Macs Gold beer and a glass of redberry smoothie (£2.95).
Cajun chicken pieces
Venison burger
Kiwiburger
Good fries
Christmas mince pie
The chicken cajun pieces were great: hot, tasty and crispy. The sour cream and sweet chilli dip was also excellent. Probably not healthy but I am into anything with cream and butter… The venison burger was not good. First, it was not very warm and the spiced redcurrant and crumberry sauce was somewhat weird. It looked like a kind of gelatine on top of the burger. The kiwiburger was much better but here also it could have been warmer. The fries were quite hot and nice. The garlic mayo was not up to the one we used to have during our previous visits. It was less garlicky and on the bitter side. The mince pie was minuscule but very good. It wasn’t too sweet, probably partially because it was that small
Cost and conclusion: it was £27. It was a little disappointing this time compared to our previous experiences there. Hopefully it was just an accident! The service was friendly as usual.
Japanese restaurant sushi bar Tokiya 74 Battersea Rise London SW11 1EH
Tokiya is one of my favourite restaurants in London. The food has always been excellent, its atmoshere is relaxed and it is truly an authentic Japanese restaurant: the chef has over 30 years of experience as a Sushi chef and he was trained in Sapporo, Hokkaido.
We ordered the agedashi tofu (deep fried tofu with tempura sauce – £3.80), the Prawn tempura roll (5 pieces of deep fried prawn tempura with mayonnaise – £5.00), the nabeyaki udon (white udon noodle with deep fried tempura on pot – £12.00) and the Tokiya special dinner box (assorted sushi, sashimi,spinach sesame,salmon teriyaki,chicken katsu, dobin mushi – £28).
Agedashi tofu
Prawn tempura roll
The agedashi tofu was its usual high standard, with a lightly crispy outside and firm inner. The prawn tempura roll was also excellent. Tokiya is one of the few Japanese restaurants in London that cooks the prawn tempura fresh in order to make your sushi – nothing is pre-prepared here! The end result is wonderfully fresh and flavoursome.
Tokiya Special Dinner Box
In details
The Tokiya Special Dinner Box is the most expensive of their set meal costing £28 which might appear expensive considering the location of the restaurant not far from Clapham Junction train station but actually you do get quite a lot for your money, and the quality was high. The assorted sushi and sashimi were very fresh and great. The salmon teriyaki was perfectly cooked and not overdone with teriyaki sauce as it happens often in “fake” Japanese restaurants, the chicken katsu was very nice too, crispy and light as made with real Japanese bread crumbs (panko). Really a nice set meal. I would gladly take it again despite the too large amount of food (even for me, and I am not a small eater).
The dobin mushi soup coming with the Dinner Box
Another view
The dobin mushi is a soup with mushroom, fish cake, spring onion and prawns as you can see on the photos above. It is part of that huge dinner box. It was delicious and very welcome with this icy forecast.
Nabeyaki Udon
The nabeyaki udon arrived steaming hot. This dish is fantastic for winter evenings and, thanks to the hot metal pot it arrives in, stays piping hot right to the finish. Along with tempura shrimps & vegetables, this dish has an egg poaching away inside it, which lets you choose how much to let it cook before eating.
The dessert
Cost and conclusion: it was £53 with no “optional service charge” added to the bill which is nice and unusual in London. The service was nice, the meal excellent so a very good value for money. Certainly my favourite Japanese restaurant in London! Highly recommended.
Saki II Japanese restaurant 53 Old Brompton Road, South Kensington London, SW7 3JS
Saki II
It was so windy and icy that we needed to stop and eat despite it being a very early time for dinner (it was about 6pm!). The closest restaurant around was the Japanese restaurant Saki II. That’s how we discovered it.
It is not very large inside, the decoration is sober with some frames explaining the different sorts of sushi on the wall. The tables are long canteen style so you will be probably sharing your table when it gets busy. We were the only people when we arrived.
We ordered the Age Dashi Tofu (deep fried tofu – £3), the Chicken Karaagi set (chicken marinated in soya sauce served with Miso soup, rice,salad, pickles and dessert – £7.80) and the Surf & Turf set (beef teriyaki and prawn tempura served with Miso soup, rice, salad, pickles and dessert – £14.80). As drinks we had a Kirin beer and a green tea.
Surf & Turf set
Beef teriyaki and prawn tempura
The beef teriyaki was good but on the small side. The prawn tempura were not good as they were undercooked unfortunately. Some of the prawns were a little on the raw side. As pickles it was a few slices of carrots and cucumber… I had expected “real” Japanese pickles instead.
Age dashi tofu
The age dashi tofu was decent, if a little lacking in flavour. There isn’t a great deal more that can be said about this dish, as it was generally inoffensive but equally uninspiring.
Chicken kara age set
The same cannot be said for the chicken kara age set, which was plain nasty. I have never had such a variation – the chicken (of which the portion was thankfully very small) was liberally coated in a dry, almost powdery batter that had the most peculiar and not very pleasant flavour. It was also very salty, suggesting it had been marinated in a very cheap soy sauce. This is a dish that should be moist and tender, made with decent sized bits of thigh meat. But it certainly wasn’t the case at Saki, where the chicken was difficult to spot inside the strange textured batter, and even more difficult to taste. Really, the strangest and nastiest variation I think I can recall ever having. The rest of the set wasn’t too good either – from a plain and uninspriring salad (bits of lettuce with a sprinkling of grated carrot a small slice of tomato on top), a small portion of non-sticky rice, and a few little sticks of vegetables, it really wasn’t a great meal and certainly not authentic japanese. The miso soup and orange were OK – but hardly enough to turn the overall meal around.
Cost and conclusion: it was £33.60 service charge included. It was “Japanese” food but it really did not feel authentic. I am not lucky lately trying new restaurants in London! It is like playing Russian roulette but with more than one chamber loaded. There is another ”Japanese” restaurant also around South Kensington called Little Japan that I also do not recommend. If you are into Japanese food, I recommend Tokiya but it is near Clapham Junction. In the South Kensington area, the only restaurant I know and like is the French restaurant “La Bouchée” across the road.
Carluccio’s Garrick Street, Covent Garden London WC2E 9BH
I had been to Carluccios once previously. Although that was a couple of years ago, my recollection is that this restaurant did quite good pasta. On this occassion though, it was for an office Christmas lunch, so my expectations weren’t high.
From a limited menu (that we had to pre-select from) I chose a vegetarian platter as starter, Bistecca di Bue con Patate for the main course, and Pasticcio di Cioccolato as dessert.
Great vegetarian platter
Bistecca di Bue con Patate
The starter was really quite good, with very nice fresh foccacio bread and a variety of peppers, olives and mozarella. Unfortunately, the main course wasn’t so good. The steak was a very thin cut and rather fatty, overcooked and very tough. I abandoned it after just a couple of bites. It came with a sort of creamy tomato sauce that would have been better with pasta, but definitely did not improve the steak.
Pasticcio di Cioccolato
Dessert was a chocolate bread pudding. It was a welcome relief after the steak, but actually also not very good. It was cold and rather soggy.
Overall, it was a disppointing meal, with only the starter worth eating. Christmas set menus for office parties are notoriously poor, and this one was no exception. It doesn’t make me inclined to try this restaurant again.
