BIERODROME Belgo Clapham 44 – 48 Clapham High Road London SW4 7UR
Reviewed on Monday 4 May 2009
Belgo Clapham
Having studied in Brussels for several years I was interested to eat at the Belgo restaurant. It is a chain and there are a few in London. They are specialised into moules & frites (fries), a little like Léon de Bruxelles chain you find in France. The place is divided into two areas: the restaurant and the pub. We tried the restaurant at lunch time.
Overview of the restaurant room
The restaurant is a large room with nothing special. It could be a hospital canteen. It does not have the charm of an old pub, but it is spacious. I do not believe the staff are from Belgium – they certainly did not speak French or Dutch between themselves. As starters we ordered the grilled goats cheese served on a crouton with roquette, roast peppers, sun-dried tomatoes and walnut dressing (£5.95) and a warm salad of smoked bacon, shredded duck, eggs & black pudding with garlic croutons and a Dijon mustard dressing (£5.95). There are other interesting starters like the very Belgian croquettes with cheddar, gruyère & Orval beer cheese served with piccalilli & salad garnish (£4.95) or King prawns pan-fried in garlic, chilli, ginger & herb butter (£6.95). The grilled goats cheese looked too burnt but they were in fact excellent. They were not overcooked and the taste was good. The warm salad was very very average. The smoked bacon, the shredded duck or the black pudding were just too tiny bits to be able to taste them well. The slices of black pudding had the size of a nail. They were also overcooked. I found the croutons too greasy. At least the eggs were fine.
Grilled goats cheese
Warm duck salad
Enlarge photo of the salad. Too tiny bits of meat: see the size of the lentil to compare.
The two starters
For the main courses we both decided on the moules marinière (steamed with white wine, garlic, cream, celery & onion – £10.95). They call it a “Kilo pot” main course and it comes with frites. You can get mussels in 1/2 kilo pot as starter for £5.95. If you do not want to eat mussels, you have Belgian meals like the beef carbonnade (beef braised in sweet Gueuze beer with apples & plums, served with frites – £9.95) that I know by its French name “carbonnade flamande”.
Frites with mayonnaise & moules marinières
Moules marinières
The moules were overcooked. It is a pity because mussels are very easy to cook, but it is also very easy to mess them. Some mussels I had were still closed despite being steamed. Not good then. The sauce/soup was good, not too salty as happens sometimes. It was upsetting because it could have been a decent lunch had the moules not been overcooked. As drinks, we of course chose Belgian beers! To start, it was two Jupiler (£7) and then we had a De Konick blond (£4.25) and a Delirium Tremens (£4.85). The beers were all great, just as well.
A good Jupiler beer!
De Konick blond beer
Delirium Tremens beer with its dedicated glass too :-)
Cost and conclusion: it was £56.13 with the 12.5% “optional” service charge already included to the bill. I prefer to add the service charge myself than having it already added, especially since we were not too happy about the service. The waitress serving us was ok but she was, for example, waiting for me to finish my glass of beer so she could empty the bottle and take it. I prefer to keep the beer in its bottle until I want to drink it. So a little pushy service even if it seemed without the wish to be annoying. We think she just did not realise it. Our experience today was not great, but it could have been better if the mussels were cooked correctly. At least one starter was excellent and the beers saved the lunch.
The Ship Tavern, 12 Gate St, Holborn London WC2A 3HP Reviewed on Sunday 3 May 2009 lunch time
Cosy interior
Note the TV screen at the right for sport events
Last time we went there (reviewed 12 April 2009) we said we will be coming again, so here we are We both ordered the twice-cooked crisp pork belly served with buttered mash potato, green beans, port gravy & spiced apple sauce (£9.95) and beers (Budvar). We also ordered a Doorstep sandwich – Fish fingers (breaded cod goujons with homemade tartare & rocket leaves – £5.55), as promised in the last review. The crisp pork belly were great, like last time but slightly less crispy while being still very good. The buttered mash potato is real, not based on powder as it happens in some pubs. The fish finger sandwich, which we took as a starter to share mostly because we were curious about it, was excellent. To be honest, I thought it was going to be somewhat nasty, heavy, dry and greasy… Well, it was very nice, almost a refined sandwich! The bread was moist and quite good, the fish fingers were perfect (crispy outside) and the rocket leaves and tartare sauce gave a nice touch. We were pleasantly impressed by it. The photos do not show well how good the lunch was. The Ship Tavern is an old, small & cosy pub and it is fairly dark inside. You can eat on the tables outside on the footpath if you wish to.
The doorstep fish finger sandwich!
Details of the fish fingers sandwich
Bad photo of an autopsy of a fish fingers sandwich :-)
Crisp pork belly and mash potato
Overview
Cost and conclusion: once again it was an excellent lunch at the Ship Tavern. The cost was about £35. We will be back to try more of their menu! The service was friendly like it was last time.
Pizzeria Rustica 32 The Quadrant, Richmond, Surrey, London, TW9 1DN Reviewed on Saturday 2 May 2009 lunch time
We have been many times to this place which is, in my opinion, the best pizza restaurant in London. It has already been reviewed previously here. It is a good place to stop before going to Richmond park for taking photos of deer & bunnies.
The room open to the street
This time we both decided to take different pizzas than the usual ones we get so we ordered an American Hot (£9.50) and a Capricciosa (£10.90). As drink we chose Moretti (£8.50) as suggested by the waiter who said the staff liked this beer better than the Peroni. We thought it was an excellent beer. The American Hot pizza was a little disappointing because it had too many pepperoni for my liking, making the pizza a little too greasy. The Jalapeno chilli bits were not spicy enough. Fortunately the pizza base was really exceptionally good, being tender and crispy at the same time. That was very nice. The Capricciosa pizza was excellent, with tasty mushroms, the right amount of pepperoni and a perfectly cooked egg.
Moretti beer
Pizza Capricciosa
American Hot pizza
Overview of the two pizzas
Cost and conclusion: it was still a nice lunch with one exceptional pizza and one average pizza on toppings but both fantastic for the base. The Capricciosa will become one of our favourites, with their Buffalo and Calzone pizzas! The bill was £28.90 (plus service charge to add).
Akasiro Japanese restaurant 8 Little Newport Street, London WC2H 7JJ
Reviewed on Monday 27 April 2009 late evening.
After two weeks in the South of France and a long weekend in Paris, it is nice to be back to London! Why again the Akasiro? 1) it is good 2) it is late in the evening 3) it is just a few tube stops from St Pancras Eurostar station 😉 As starters we ordered the age tofu (£4.50) and the spicy sushi salmon (£4). Both were good but it is better to eat the age tofu first because after the spicy sushi (with some really hot bits) you do not feel much of the age tofu taste. For the main courses, we took again the tempura udon (£8.50 – see previous reviews to see why “again’) and tried the Bulgogi which is a Korean barbecued beef (£10). The tempura udon was like everytime: fine. The bulgogi was good but I found it a little too salty, probably because the meat was marinated in the soy sauce (as it should be). I had a green tea ice cream (£3.50) as dessert. It was very good, not too sweet nor too creamy and a little bitter. The drinks were two Asahi beer (£5.80) , served chilly as usual.
Asahi beer
Spicy salmon sushi
Agedashi tofu
Hot tempura udon
Bulgogi
Cost and conclusion: another very decent dinner for £36.30 which is a good value for money. The service is very nice and despite the late time we were not hurried to leave at all. It is the 5th time I review this place
Restaurant Chez Clément Elysées 123 Av. des Champs Elysées, 75008 Paris www.chezclement.com Reviewed on Sunday 26 April 2009 lunch time
Av. des Champs Elysées. Chez Clément is located on the right side of the avenue.
Chez Clément is a decent chain restaurant. It is open all day so you do not have to wait until 7.30pm to have your dinner for example. Chez Clément Elysées, as its name hints, is located at the beautiful Champs Elysées avenue. It is closer to the Arc de Triomphe than to Le Louvre museum located at the opposite end, as you can see in the background of the photo above I took from the Arc. I have been here several times and never had a bad surprise. This one is decorated with spoons and forks all over the rooms, walls and handles included. It must be a pain to keep them clean but they were clean This time we ordered l’escalope de volaille (14.90 euros), un souris d’agneau (18.90 euros), une fillette rouge (red wine – 8.70 euros), a bottle of Vittel water (5.30 euros) and ended the lunch with two espresso (5.60 euros). The souris d’agneau (lamb knuckle joint) was the meal of the day. It was perfectly cooked but it could have been warmer. The vegetables and the sauce were good. The escalope de volaille (chicken breast) was breaded and served with a tomato sauce. It was well hidden under a huge crispy pancake supporting a salad. Please take a look at the photo to see what I mean.
Souris d'agneau
Escalope de volaille
Cost and conclusion: it was 53.40 euros service charge included. Really not bad considering the decent lunch and the pretty expensive location!
