Bodean’s Clapham
169 Clapham High Street
London, SW4 7S

Bodean's

Eat Pigs

Bodean’s is an “American style” BBQ smoke house chain. We went to the Clapham branch which is located close to Clapham Common tube station. It has an interesting decor, including a large cow with a sign “eat pigs” on its belly. There are two large screen tvs and they were showing Flash Gordon while we were there… The layout is not bad with some separation between tables and the tables are large.

We ordered the “Pig out for £10” which was a full rack of baby back ribs served with fries, coleslaw and house beer, soft drink or glass of wine. You can get that offer 7 days a week but only between 12-3pm on Friday and Saturday.

A la carte I was interested by the clam chowder (£4.50), the pulled pork meal (pork shoulder smoked for 12 hours, off the bone and bite size shredded – £7.95) or the BBQ burnt ends and ribs (slow smoked chunks of beef brisket served in a BBQ sauce with fries and coleslaw – £11.95). They also have chargrilled steaks (10 oz ribeye for £16.95, 10 oz rump for £14.95) and hamburgers of course.

Towel & sauces

On the table, next to the sauces (ketchup plus some hot sauces which weren’t that hot, by the way) you have towels and hand cleaner to remind you to use your fingers.

Iced tea & Coors light

Baby back ribs

A quite large meal

Unfortunately the ribs were dry

Sadly, the ribs were very average. They were large but not very warm and somewhat on the dry and hard side. I think they were overcooked. The coleslaw was tasteless and the fries were on the low side of average too. The beer was a 330ml Coors light served in an icy glass. It was the first time I tried that beer and I thought it lacked some bubbles and was a little sweet. Still, served icy it was refreshing. The iced tea was good. It came without sugar as requested. Apparently they normally add a syrup for making it sweeter.

Cost and conclusion: it was £22 (including a 10% service charge automatically added to the bill) We were not very impressed by the ribs. Maybe with another meal things would be better? It is a pity as the surrounding is much better than at the Cattle Grid in Balham where the ribs were much better but served cold. The service was friendly.

In the same area we reviewed the Thai restaurant The Pepper Tree and the French restaurant Gastro.

Amaranth Thai Market – Thai Café & Noodle Bar
346/348 Garratt Lane
London SW18 4ES

The real door is the one at the right of the picture

Amaranth Thai Market or Thai Café & Noodle Bar – since the two names are listed – is located right at the intersection between Garratt Lane and Thornsett Road. The transparent door you see on Garratt Lane is not in use, and is blocked by tables. You need to use the door in Thornsett Road to get in and it is not that obvious that it belongs to the restaurant. We did see a few people trying to get in through the main, but closed, door. Inside is not very spacious and it has a cafetaria style with small tables and seats with metallic feet.

Nice plates

Prawn crackers

When the menus were produced, we were given some prawn crackers with a sweet and sour sauce to snack on. They were fine, and still crunchy, not affected by humidity.

The menu was quite interesting with a lot of noodle dishes from £5.95 (for the vegetarian or tofu versions), £6.95 (with chicken) to £7.95 (with prawns). You have the choice between “drunken spicy noodles” (chunky udon noodles with soy, lemon grass, chilli and hot basil), ho fun rice noodles (rice noodles in a mild sauce with egg, soy and mixed vegetable), phad thai noodles (rice noodles in mild tamarind, bean sprouts, egg and garlic chives) and egg noodles with mixed vegetables.

For curries the choice is between the beef panang (£7.95), the red roast duck curry (£7.95), the red prawn curry (£7.95), the red veg curry (£5.95), the green chicken curry (£6.95), yellow chicken curry, nutty musamum chicken and nutty musamum beef.
There are also noodle soups, rice dishes, mild stir fries… Plenty of choices.

As starters we chose the dim sum, described as Mums recipe with water chestnut, coriander, shitake mushroom and soy. We had the choice between the vegetarian version (£4.50), pork or chicken (£4.80) and prawn (£4.95). We opted for the pork dim sum. We also ordered the chicken satay and peanut dip marinated with home made peanut dip (£4.95). Other interesting starters were prawn in a blanket (toasted sesame filling wrapped and plum dip – £4.95), steam fish in banana leaves (code, chillies, coconut, ginger, lime leaves and basil – £4.95), Thai tempura, spicy sausages and cashews, duck rolls and tamarind dip…

As main courses we wanted a noodle soup and finally chose the thai laksa noodle soup (chicken, coconut broth, ramen noodles, lemon grass, lime leaves and galangal – £6.95). This meal was also available with with tofu (£5.95), prawns (£7.95) or seafood (£8.50). We hesitated with the chicken tom yum noodle soup (tangy, rice noodles lemon grass, shallots, galangal, coriander and lime – £6.95) and the pork won ton noodle soup (clear soup with egg noodles, greens, coriander and brean sprouts – £6.95) that looked interesting.

We also had the red roast duck curry (roast duck in a red coconut sauce with peppers baby tomatoes, pineapples & sweet basol – £7.95) and Thai sticky rice (£2.50) recommended by the waitress since the duck comes with no accompaniment.

For drinks, we chose the sparkling ginger and lemon grass and chilli (£2.50) and the sparkling elderflower (£2) as we were in a discovery mood. This restaurant is a B.Y.O so you can bring your own bottle of wine if you wish to. The corkage fees are £2.50 per bottle or £1.25 per half bottle of wine.

The two starters

Pork dim sum

Chicken satay

The dim sum were very good. Full of flavour, but not too salty as is sometimes the case. And not at all greasy. The chicken satay was a bit more average. The sauce was not especially peanut-y, and whilst the garnish of diced vegetables was a nice touch, the whole thing would have been a bit better if the chicken had been barbequed with a bit more flavour. The Pepper Tree, not far away at Clapham Common, does this dish a bit better.

The main courses

Red roast duck curry

Rice and red roast duck curry

Red roast duck curry & rice in the plate

Chicken laksa

Close-up of the chicken laksa

The red roast duck curry was quite tasty, with a nice creamy sauce. It could perhaps have been a bit spicier. The chicken laksa was quite authentic, and very good – but be warned that this is the sour type of laksa, which can become a bit overpowering as you work your way through the dish. Overall very good though, and a large meal to which I nearly made it to the end.

Coconut ice cream

Banana dessert with rice & ice cream

The other side

Close-up

The banana dessert (we forgot its name) was… interesting. And even quite pleasant, though I was a bit less thrilled by the icecream and cream-from-a-can that came with it. It certainly needed some accompaniment, as the banana rice would have been too heavy and too bland on its own – and the idea was the right one – it is just that the cream and ice cream weren’t particularly nice. The coconut ice cream was alright. Not bad and not fantastic either.

Sparkling ginger lemon grass and chilli

The sparkling elderflower was quite pleasant. One small complaint here is that they did not bother to chill the bottle, but instead just provided a glass with icecubes. That is fine, but does force the customer to consume the drink quickly – or else risk having a room-temperature drink. Does it encourage customers to buy more if they run out too soon, I wonder? The sparkling ginger lemon grass and chilli was very weird. It was sweet and spicy, burning the throat a little. There was a not-that-small piece of chilli in the glass after all…

Cost and conclusion: it was £38.55. With no complaints about the food or the service, you’d think I’d be saying we return, right? Wrong. I do have one major complaint with this restaurant that actually means we will never go back. When it came time to pay our bill, the waiter became very agitated when we wanted to take the itemised bill with us, insisting that he “needed that for his records”. OK, fine we said. Bring us a copy. Well, he spent the next 10 minutes trying to avoid our gaze until it was clear we weren’t leaving till we got it. With great reluctance, he went off and came back with a hand-writen bill. But did it itemise our meal? No – he had simply written “dinner” and the total amount. No breakdown of VAT either. With the lengths this guy went to to prevent us having a record of our meal, we could have been forgiven for thinking we were in China town! Far be it from me to speculate on this restaurant’s relationship with the IRS, but when you’ve got to throw a tantrum just to get your bill and even then can’t get a detailed one (per legal obligation – http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/managing/charging/vat-invoices.htm) – it does rather prompt one to wonder the reasons why. Whatever the answer to that, it is just not acceptable practice to spend that much time and effort dodging that obligation when the customer has specifically requested a VAT receipt.

Other Thai restaurants we tried were the Banana Leaf Canteen near Clapham Junction and the Pepper Tree near Clapham Common tube station.

Pizza Express Wandsworth Common
198 Trinity Road
London SW17 7HR

Pizza Express

Nice cold Peroni beer and sparkling water

Located next to Wandsworth Common and next to the excellent French restaurant Bellevue Rendez-vous this Pizza Express is our closest pizzeria. It is nicely designed with plenty of space between tables and two open areas in front and in the rear.

We ordered two “Classic Pizza” but on a Romana base for an additional £1.20. As explained by Pizza Express “the differences between a Romana and a Classic are size, thickness and taste. The Romana and Classic pizza are made from the same dough but the Romana is stretched further, to 14 inches and cooked on a wire mesh. This gives the Romana an extraordinarily thin, crispy base and consequently, stronger flavours than the Classic.” Not sure about the stronger flavours but I certainly prefer thin base than the deep pan bread-like base…

The pizzas chosen were the Giardiniera (Asparagus, artichokes, mushrooms, fresh red peppers, santos tomatoes, olives and garlic – on a tomato and pesto sauce – £8.15 + £1.20) and the Fiorentina (Spinach, grana padano and a free range egg with garlic and olives – £7.55 + £1.20). As drink we had a Peroni Gran Riserva (£3.75) and a 500ml San Pellegrino mineral water (£2.20). 

The two pizzas

The not so spicy chilli oil

Pizza Giardiniera on a Romana base

The pizza Giardiniera was good. I am not exactly a vegetarian but a change is nice from time to time. The base was fine and the vegetables were decent. The taste of garlic was quite present which was nice. The only downside was some salty patches coming from the pesto sauce, but that was still a minor complaint.

Pizza Fiorentina

The pizza Fiorentina was excellent (but still not matching the Fiorentina at Pizzeria Rustica in Richmond – let’s not dream!) with a perfectly cooked egg that was still lightly runny when broken. It had a nice mix of toppings, including spinach that actually still had some flavour. That makes an enormous difference for this sort of pizza.

Cost and conclusion: it was £24 in all. The pizzas were good and the surrounding is pleasant. As for the service this time, whilst they were friendly, they were incredibly slow despite not being at all busy (there were only a handful of customers that evening). It is not acceptable to have to wait 40 minutes for the bill to arrive, and then to wait even longer for someone to return so we could pay it! We could not wait anymore, so left our table and paid at the desk on the way out to speed things up. Still, if you are in the area and are looking for a pizza, this is a very decent place. Thirty metres away you have Bellevue Rendez-vous which is one of our favourite French restaurants.

French restaurant Le P’tit Normand
185 Merton Road, Southfields
London SW18 5EF

Delicious rillettes

Le P’tit Normand is a French restaurant located in Southfields. It is an expected location for such a traditional French restaurant as it is next to a take away and in front of a pub and a bus stop. Inside, you enter in another world, cut from the outside. This was our second visit following a good experience the first time.

We ordered one 3 course set menu at £19.50 including a crême brûlée au foie gras et poire (pear), a poussin and a cheeseboard. A la carte we had a Artichaut farci au Crabe et Gratinée à la Chapelure, sauce au Noilly Prat (bread crumb glazed artichoke heart, stuffed with white crab meat, dry vermouth sauce – £6.50) followed by a Confit de Canard au Jus de Porto et Figues, Pommes Sarladaises (Cured duck leg, port and fig sauce, Salardaise potatoes – £14.65) and a Tarte au citron et agrumes ( lemon tart with mandarin slices on top – £5.50). As drink we had a carafe 1/2 litre of house red wine (£8.10) and a bottle of Badoit (£3).

Carafe of red wine & sparkling water Badoit

The starters

Artichaut farci au Crabe

Crème brûlée au foie gras et poires

The crème brûlée au foie gras and pears was delicious. Of course you must be into foie gras for choosing that kind of meal! It was very smooth and the taste of foie gras was not overhelming, thanks to the pear that provided a good balance. The artichaut farci au crabe et gratinée à la chapelure, sauce au Noilly Prat was also quite tasty, but became just a bit overpowering for my taste as I worked my way through that dish.  It could have used some sort of accompaniment to provide a contrast to the flavour.

The two main courses

Confit de canard

Poussin with endives & garlic

Close-up

The main courses were good too. The confit de canard was very nicely done, with a rich and slightly sweet sauce. We weren’t quite so thrilled by the Pommes Sarladaises though (which accompanied both mains), which might have been improved had they been crispy. The poussin was perfectly cooked with a crispy skin. The bitterness of the endive was going well with the slightly sweet sauce.

The cheese board

Cheese & bread

Lemon tart with slices of mandarin

The cheese board was good, with a large choice of unpasteurised cheese. I think only two were pasteurised. The bread accompaning the cheeses was excellent and with the red wine it was a wonderful way to end the dinner. The lemon tart had a nicely piquant flavour, not too sweet, and nicely set off with the mandarin.

Cost and conclusion: it was £64.45 including the discretionary 12.5% service charge that goes to the restaurant staff. While the service were efficient and friendly, I am opposed to the service charge automatically added to the bill. It should left fully at the discretion of the client. The result in this case is the same, but it is for the principle I am writing this 😉 Great food, great service at a reasonable price and all in a pleasant surrounding. What to ask more?

You can read the previous review with more details and photos about le P’tit Normand at http://www.trusted-gourmet.com/2009/07/french-restaurant-le-ptit-normand-185-merton-road-southfields-wandsworth-london-sw18-5ef/

Japanese restaurant Akasiro
8 Little Newport Street
London WC2H 7JJ

I reviewed Akasiro 6 times but it has been two months since the last review so how are they doing now? As usual it was just time for a quick lunch. We took Katsudon (pork cutlet with egg sauce topped on rice, served with miso soup – £6.50) and Yaki Udon (£5.90). As drinks, we had an Asahi beer (£2.90) and a green tea (£1.50).

Yaki Udon

The Yaki Udon is a meal made of fried thick udon noodles with seafood. It was very tasty. Nice crispy bean sprouts, good range of seafood (mussels, shrimps, calamari…).

Katsudon

The katsudon was also very good – surprisingly tasty and even quite crispy, which is quite a feat considering that the tonkatsu strips are cooked in an egg sauce atop rice.

Cost and conclusion: as usual, a good meal at reasonable price from Akasiro. Their lunchtime prices really are good value. It was £16.80, not including tip. For reading the previous reviews, please visit the list of restaurants in alphabetical order page. It only lists London based restaurants.