Gourmet Burger Kitchen
44 Northcote Road, Battersea
SW11 1NZ London
Telephone (020) 7228 3309

Gourmet Burger Kitchen in Battersea

Have you ever tried a Kiwiburger? It is a burger with beef, cheese, salad, egg but also some beetroot. It originated in New Zealand hence the name. The idea for Gourmet Burger Kitchen originated in New Zealand and this can be seen by the presence on the menu of not only the kiwiburger but also from several wines and beers coming from there. It happened I was wearing a flashy green fluo t-shirt with New Zealand on it so I fitted in well in the restaurant 😉

The restaurant is quite simple inside, a little crammed but there is a terrace so you can eat outside if you wish. Our table was next to the counter so it was getting a little busy with all the people ordering their food especially since they also do take away.

We ordered a Kiwiburger made of 100% Aberdeen-Angus Scotch beef, beetroot, egg, pineapple, cheese, salad, mayonnaise & relish (£7.95) and a Habanero made of 100% Aberdeen-Angus Scotch beef, hot and spicy sauce, mozzarella cheese, salad & mayonnaise (£7.65) plus two NZ brewed beers, a Steinlager (£3.30) and a Mac’s Gold (£3.30). We also added two portions of fries (£2.75 each).

The burgers were excellent! They were also massive, so only for very hungry people (or could alternatively be shared). The burger bun was nice and fresh, and lightly grilled so it was crispy on the outside whilst remaining nice and fresh inside. All the burgers are cooked to ‘medium’ (unless you ask for something different) – medium was perfect. In addition to the meat, the kiwiburger has cheese, egg, beetroot and pineapple, plus the usual salad and tomato. That means about 3-4 full rings of pineapple and at least half a beetroot – so really not a small meal. It had a little too much tomato for my taste, but that is easy to expel. The only complaint/comment here is that there is no way in the world to eat this thing other than dissecting it with knife and fork. It is a seriously large burger – about 20 cm in height.

The Habanero burger was very good too and the spicy sauce was a little sweet and surprisingly spicy (hot). I like that! Apparently it is a novelty on their menu. The fries were good. They were still crispy while being quite large. Do not order two portions unless you are very very hungry! We managed to finish one only. The mustard provided with the fries was incredibly hot, be moderate with it 😉

The macs gold beer is a pleasant lager and the Steinlager was fine too if you are into bitter beer – both were served properly cold as they were designed to be, not the semi-cold (too warm) bottles you get too frequently in London pubs.

Not very large inside

2 NZ brewed beers! Mac’s Gold & Steinlager

Kiwiburger

Habanero burger

Details of the Habanero burger

Overview of the table

Details of the massive Kiwiburger

Done! Nap time required now...

Cost and conclusion: it was £27.70 in all. It is possible to have offers like two for one etc if you do some search online. We did not know at that time since we tried it just because the burgers looked good while visiting the area. It is not exactly the refined food but the quality was there and it was good. What else to ask for burgers? The service was very good too. Definitely recommended!

Restaurant Landhaus Bacher
A-3512 Mautern, Wachau Südtirolerplatz 2
Austria
www.landhaus-bacher.at

Outside Vienna, in Wachau area

 In the beautiful Wachau wine area full of small medieval towns the best restaurant is Landhaus Bacher in Mautern. It is a “Geniesser-hotel” which can be translated as a  place for the Epicureans. Their awards are quite impressive. Lisl Wagner-Bacher is one of the best chefs in Austria and she was the first woman there to be awarded the Gault Millau “Chef of the Year” in 1983. The restaurant has also been rated 2 stars by the Michelin guide and 3 toques by the Gault Millau guide with a rating of 18 out of 20! It is possible to take part in gastronomy courses with her and they even have guest rooms in their nice countryside house.

Nice setting and lots of space between tables

We were three people in all and we decided to have the lunch in the restaurant’s garden. It was very pleasant, with a peaceful atmosphere. The service was discreet and efficient, always ready to help you. I had the langostinos (gebratene Langostinos mit gerösteten Artischocken im leicht gebundenen Paellasud) as a starter and a braised shoulder of Limousin lamb (Rücken und geschmorte Schulter vom Limousin Lamm mit Bohnen-Tomatensugo und Erdäpfel-Schalottenschnitte as main course. My friends took a consommé (Consommé vom Kavaliersspitz mit Fleischstrudel, Suppengemüse und Liebstöckl) and trout fillet (Waldviertler Saibling mit mariniertem Spargel, Zitronenconfit und Kressesalat) as starters and milk veal (Das Beste vom Tiroler Milchkalb mit gratiniertem Erdäpfel-Pilzcrêpe) and also the lamb as main courses. The wine was a superb local white wine Grüner Vetliner produced by the nearby NIKOLAI HOF. The dessert was a mousse of strawberry and lemon and at the end we had some griottes/sherries with cream. We all found the food delicious with everything cooked to perfection. The langoustinos were delicate and tasty, the braised lamb really good. The dessert was up to the rest, not too sweet etc, just perfect! Lovely presentation of each meal (see photos below). It is hard to review a perfect lunch.

Langostinos with roasted artichokes and paella

Detailled view of the langostinos

Trout with marinated asparagus

Detailled view of the trout

Overview of the trout with marinated asparagus, lemon confit and watercress salad

Consommé of Kavalier Spitz with meat strudel

Detailed view

1989 The best of Tyrolean milk veal with potatoes gratinées and Pilzcrêpe

Detailed view

Braised shoulder of Limousin lamb

Detailed view

Strawberry and lemon mouse

Detailed view

Nice way of ending the lunch!

Conclusion and cost: I was invited, but the cost can be estimated at about 70-80 euros per person including wine. The meals were excellent and the local white wine wonderfully fruity. Landhaus Bacher with its creative cuisine is truly the fine dining paradise for gourmets!

Greek restaurant Orpheus
Spiegelgasse 10
1010 Vienna, Austria 
Tel +43 1 5123888

Kunsthistorisches Museum

Vienna is well known for its Opera Ball, and culinary talking, for its Wiener Schnitzel but I went to a Greek restaurant with specialties from Crete! I did not choose it but a friend of mine did for our group meeting. The restaurant chosen was Orpheus, located in the downtown near Stephansplatz. It is smartly designed in black and is quite spacious. What’s nice also is it has a huge open panoramic windows so you can dine in while having fresh air from outside. We did even better by going on their covered terrace.

Overview of the table

As starters we had different kinds of mezze (olives, feta cheese etc) and it was quite filling. For main course I had a grilled octopus. It was not bad at all but a little hard. Maybe it was a little overcooked but I cannot blame them because we chatted a long time while eating the starters. The beer was fine and they have Tsikoudia which is a digestif from Crete similar to the Italian grappa.

Grilled octopus

Cost and conclusion: I did not pay the bill. The food was good, not fantastic but it was probably because of us being so slow. The service were very nice. They were attentive and not pushy at all. Recommended if you are in the area!

Wetherspoons Pub Terminal 2 Landside, Heathrow Airport
Hounslow, Middlesex TW6 1EW

Reviewed Thursday 18 June 2009

"Gourmet burgers"

Heathrow Terminal 2 Landside is really bad if you wish to eat there before security. The choice is only between Costa the Italian coffee chain and Wetherspoons pub. Being hungry we go for the pub described on BAA Heathrow site as “The relaxing, children-friendly pub that offers exceptional value. Choose from a wide choice of ales and wines, plus a choice of classic pub food.”

The pub is located upstairs and is quite large and is divided in two areas. It is spacious and there is enough room between tables for fitting luggages. We ordered two San Miguel beers (£3.10 each) and two Gourmet burgers (£8.99 each), more precisely the Butterfly chicken breast burger, topped with bacon slices, spicy Monterey cheese & pepper sauce and six beer-battered whole onion rings.

Menu

The waitress came after 5 minutes to tell us they had no onion rings and asked what we would like instead. I was quite annoyed by that because you would think they could have that in stock with some minimum management. We asked for a simple salad instead. The food arrived 10 minutes later and without the salad! Well, I did not bother to remind her about it because that was the worst food I’ve had in a long time. Where to start? The burger bun was dry and horrible – it certainly wasn’t fresh, and had a tendancy to crumble as you tried to eat it. The chicken was dry and incredibly hard. It was smothered in a revolting sauce that tasted like packet mushroom soup, and totally overpowered anything else (including the “taste” of the chicken). The only thing I could eat were the fries, thanks to the little mayonnaise sachets and to the fact I was hungry. The bottles of beer were not cold.

Overview of the two meals

Yucky! What's in there?

Very dry and hard chicken

Hopefully the food in the plane will be better...

Cost and conclusion: £24.18 for that!  The food was cheap expensive and nasty, the beer not cold… I think they forgot the word bad when they wrote this place offers “exceptional value”. There’s not really much else to say – except don’t go there! You’ll enjoy far more a sandwich at Boots downstairs.

Pizzeria Rustica
32 The Quadrant, Richmond, Surrey
London TW9 1DN

Reviewed on Tuesday 16 June 2009

Pizzeria Rustica

Rustica upstairs

We have tried many pizzerias in London and I have to say the best pizzas are made at Rustica, followed closely by Franco Manca. That is based on the pizzas only. If I count the surrounding, Rustica wins by a huge margin. The location first: let’s not be cruel by comparing Richmond to Brixton market. Second, the design of the restaurant is also a lot better. Rustica is a charming relaxing restaurant while Franco Manca is more canteen-like and within a market, next to a fish stall. Just as well because Richmond costs about double even if still being reasonably priced.

We did not take any starters since their pizzas are quite large and we ordered two pizzas, a capricciosa (£9.90) and a buffalo (£9.95), with two Moretti beers (£6.50). The beers could have been colder for my liking. The capricciosa was very good, with a nice crispy base, and the right amount of toppings. The usual good experience. The buffalo was excellent, as usual, should I say! I love the buffalo mozzarella. One distinctive feature of the buffalo pizza is that the toppings (parma ham, tomato bruschetta and mozarella) are added fresh on a cooked pizza base so the base stays crispy. The chilli oil was very lightly spicy and it poured incredibly slowly – a lot of work to get enough on your pizza. I prefer when it is very spicy (hot) like they often do in France.

Inside Rustica

Pizza Capricciosa

Pizza Buffalo & the chilli oil

Overview of the two pizzas

The desserts were a homemade carrot cake and a Baileys cheesecake. The carrot cake was very good. Nice and chunky, and not over-sweet as is often the case. That includes for the icing/topping, which was just sweet enough to match the cake nicely. The Baileys cheesecake was great. Not too sweet either and the right amount of Baileys.
A little complaint here: the tables are so close together that it can be hard to have a decent conversation if you happen to have loud/talkative neighbours. Also, if it just happens (as it did) that you have a neighbour who orders something smelly like fish at the time you are up to dessert, then the proximity of the smell is a bit off-putting.

Homemade carrot cake

Baileys cheesecake

Overview of the two desserts

Cost and conclusion: it was £36 and it is up to you to leave the gratuity or not and how much. I like that! It is just very rude to automatically add an “optional” 12.5% service charge to the bill and to assume the service was worth it. Here the service was excellent, with a very friendly italian staff so they deserved a good tip
You can read previous reviews of Rustica here (22 March 2009) and here (2 May 2009).

Pizzeria Rustica is located next to Richmond train station, but it is also only 15 minutes walk from Richmond Park which is the largest open space in London covering almost 1000 hectares. It is home to around 650 free roaming deer so if you are into photography and wildlife, it is a good spot to visit. Below is a photo of a deer I took there.

A deer hiding in the bush at Richmond Park