Hazuki Japanese restaurant 43, Chandos Place London, WC2N 4HS 020 7240 2530
Reviewed on Friday 15 May 2009
Hazuki Japanese restaurant
We have been to Hazuki many times. We ordered, as usual unfortunately since there are so many other choices, the Menu A (£16) and the Menu B (£16). Both include rice and miso soup, the appetizer of the day and an assorted tempura. It is just for the last course (pork ginger, tonkatsu, chicken teriyaki, salmon teriyaki etc) that there is a difference between the two menus. We chose the chicken teriyaki and the salmon teriyaki, and two Asahi beers (£6.60).
The miso soup was good, better than at Toku, and similar to the one at Akasiro. The appetizer of the day was tuna and it was quite good. The assorted tempura had just one shrimp and the rest were vegetables. It was a little small but I think it is better that way since tempura can get you with all the fried stuff. Plus this was just the third starter after all. The salmon teriyaki was very good and surprisingly big too. Maybe it needed to be slightly more cooked to have the skin crispier but it was quite good the way it was. The chicken teriyaki came with pan fried soja. It was a little bland, and would have benefited from a more flavoursome teriyaki sauce (or just more of it).
Interior of the Hazuki on the first floor
Miso soup
Appetizer of the Day (tuna)
Details of the tuna. I already ate one bit before taking the photo...
Tempura
Chicken teriyaki
Salmon teriyaki
Overview of the two meals
Cost and conclusion: it was £42.50 including the “optional gratuity @10%” as written on the bill. I wish restaurants in London would stop pre-empting the customer with the “optional gratuity” in the total bill. It should be up to the clients to decide if the service was worth the gratuity or not, and how much too. By the way, the service was efficient here so I would have chosen to tip (I just hate being coerced).
Cattle Grid restaurant 1, Balham Station Road London SW12 9SG Tel. 020 8673 9099
Reviewed on Thursday 14 May 2009
Cattle Grid restaurant in Balham
The Cattle Grid restaurant in Balham is located right in front of the Balham train station, you cannot miss it, especially with the big cow on the sidewalk 😉 They do not have table service so you have to order at the counter in front of the kitchen. You can actually see your steaks being cooked. We ordered a 10oz Sirloin with a green peppercorn sauce served with chips and watercress and a full rack of baby back pork ribs served with chips. Actually I wanted a 16oz T-Bone but it was not available so I had the pig instead. A little surprising to be out of stock since it was not that late, just past 8pm. Many beers from Australasia so we decided to go with the NZ Mac’s Gold which were not bad at all. The dinner was disappointing: the sirloin was good, decently cooked but the green peppercorn sauce was seriously bad to the point it had to be avoided. It was better to eat the steak with some mayonnaise than with the sauce (see the last photo, you can see a little bit of the sirloin with mayonnaise I tried). We really wondered what happened to that sauce since it is not that hard to make a pepper sauce (actually we suspected it was ‘off’…). The rack of ribs had also its share of surprise: it was not hot at all and even on the cold side, as if it was cooked an hour ago. That was a real shame since it tasted good (it was marinated in a good barbecue sauce) and the meat could be very easily detached from the bones. No need for fingers. I was very upset because this could have been an excellent meal if served normally hot. It should have been so easy to put it under the grill for a few minutes to have it warm! The fries were good, and hot at least.
NZ Mac's Gold beer!
10oz Sirloin with a green peppercorn sauce served with chips and watercress
Full rack of baby back ribs served with chips
Overview of the two plates
The meat was very easy to detach
Cost and conclusion: it was a little over £33 for the sirloin, the ribs and two beers. The value for money isn’t bad but being served a room-temperature rack of ribs and running out of T-bones at 8pm for a steakhouse is not acceptable (not to mention the peppercorn sauce issue).
Italian restaurant and pizzeria Donna Margherita 183 Lavender Hill London SW11 5TE 0207 228 2660
Reviewed on Wednesday 13 May 2009
Italian restaurant Donna Margherita
We noticed this restaurant on the way to Clapham Junction after going to Ukai Sushi. They had some articles saying they were the best pizzeria in London displayed on their entrance so we were curious about it. We returned to eat a couple of days later. It was too busy at that time to get seated inside so we ate in the conservatory next to the footpath. It was becoming cold (it was after 8:30pm) but they put the heaters quickly and they were quite efficient We ordered two pizzas: a Capricciosa (Tomato, mozzarella, ham, artichoke, black olives, olive oil, parmesan and fresh basil – £8.75) and a Pizza Donna Margherita (Cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, olive oil and fresh basil – £9.10). As drink we had two beers (Moretti – £6) and ended the dinner with two Limoncello (£5).
The pizza base was amongst the best I’ve had in London – nicely crispy and light, with a very nice flavour. Donna margherita is not afraid to burn slightly the edges, producing that wonderful bubbled texture that all good pizza should have. The capricciosa topping was good – but not quite matching the best I’ve had at some other pizzeria. I put this mainly down to the ham, which came in thin strips, rather than in slices. Possibly a little heavy-handed with the artichokes also. The final result was a pizza base rivalling the best I’ve had in London, but topping not quite matching that promise. It still rates well, but has some way to go before it beats Rustica in Richmond. The pizza Donna Margherita was better, with the right amount of topping and a great tomato flavour coming from the cherry tomatoes.
Good Moretti beer
Pizza Capricciosa
Pizza Donna Margherita
The two pizzas
Chilli oil
Spicy oil on pizza
Cost and conclusion: it was £32.46 including a “discretionary” 12.5% service charge for the two pizzas, two beers and two Limoncello. The pizzas were good but we found the music a little too loud to be comfortable.
Kings Head Pub 84 Upper Tooting Road, Tooting SW17 7PB London
Reviewed on Tuesday 12 May 2009
Kings Head pub
It is surprising to find the Kings Head pub and its imposing old building in a street dominated by Indian/Pakistani restaurants. It is listed on CAMRA inventory of London’s pubs heritage where they say “Designed by the prolific pub architect, W. M. Brutton, and built in 1896. An architecturally eclectic confection outside but retaining important remnants of the original building – tilework, screens, etched glass, counter and bar-back and also a large and imposing billiard room.” We have to agree it is a very nice pub, extremely spacious compared to many other pubs. The downside was the atmosphere, or the lack of it. Maybe because of its dimensions it appeared somewhat empty.
Like in any pub, the meals go from sausages to curry. For example they had fish and chips (hand-battered fish with chips, minted mushy peas, tartare sauce and a seared half lemon – £6.75), the pie of the day served with mash, seasonal vegetables and gravy (£5.95), the sausage of the day served with mash and a sticky onion gravy (£6.25), a lemon and garlic chicken skewers (two marinated chicken skewers served with rice, roasted vegetables and a low fat garlic and mint yoghurt dressing – £7.35), a spicy roasted half chicken served with salad, chips and salsa (£7.60), moules frites served with fries and mayonnaise (£8.55) or a steak frites (grilled bavette steak with fries and béarnaise sauce, served with a watercress garnish – £7.15) . We ordered the fish and chips and the steak frites with two pints of Budvar. The steak was well cooked and tender and the béarnaise sauce was good. The fries could have been warmer and crispier.
The counter
Nice decoration
A pint of Budvar beer
Steak frites
Fish and chips
The two meals
Cost and conclusion: £20.82 for two pub meals and two pints, it is fair. It is not a gastro pub, but the food was decent and the beer good. What else to ask from a pub as even the design was impressive? Well, probably some buzz as it is lacking some soul. Still, a good place to stop if you feel hungry in the area and are looking for a pub meal. In the same street a minute walk away toward Tooting Broadway tube station there is Al Mirage if you are into curry.
Nambu-tei Japanese restaurant 12 Thames Street Windsor, Berks SL4 1PL
Reviewed on Monday 11 May 2009
Nambu-tei Japanese restaurant
Nambu-tei Japanese restaurant is wonderfully located next to Windsor Castle. It is on Thames Street when you come from the train station. Near the top of the hill, the castle is on the left side and the restaurant on the right side. It belongs to the restaurant of the same name in London’s Baker Street. We did not have much time for lunch so we both decided on the tempura set which was served with rice, some Japanese pickles and some slices of orange. The tempura was well cooked, not greasy as it can be sometimes. The pickles were good addition to the tempura. The Asahi beers were cold and fine
Funny sushi clock
Sushi à la carte
Details of the sushi à la carte menu
Tempura set
Cost and conclusion: for two tempura sets, including rice, pickels and slices of orange as dessert, plus two Asahi beers it was just over £28 and it says “gratuities at your discretion” at the bottom of the bill. Excellent! I am totally against these 12.5% service charge left at your “discretion” but added to the bill. Why do we have to opt out if the service was bad? I find it pretty rude from some restaurants to assume they automatically deserve a 12.5% service charge. I always pay the service charge even when it is discretionary but I dislike the way it is often done by including it in the total bill. Also why 12.5%? I prefer the non tipping system like in France where the service charge is already included in every meal’s price as it is less misleading than here where you see lower prices in the menu (and in small print at the bottom you see about the service charge). So thanks to Nambu-tei for being polite and respecting their clients! We like that and we will be back!
