Akasiro 8 Little Newport Street, London WC2H 7JJ Monday to Saturday from 12 to 11:30pm (last order) Sunday from 12 to 11pm (last order)
Reviewed on Wednesday 1 April 2009
Japanese restaurant Akasiro
It has been a long time since I have been to Leicester Square area because I was mostly in France lately (most of November, a week in December, three weeks in January, three weeks in February) and I lost a little bit track of old habits. I wanted to go back to the Japanese restaurant Zipangu next to Chinatown and instead there was the Akasiro! There was a change of owner and the menu changed a little too. The Bento boxes disappeared, same for the tempura set which had a miso soup, three pieces of sashimi and a tempura of three prawns and a selection of vegetable (carrot, aubergine, green pepper…) for £10.50. I often used to take that tempura set and had to replace it by something new this time. Overall I found the new menu easier to read and the lunch special menu (from 12 to 4 pm every day) is extremely well priced. They are divided in 5 categories: Main dishes, Furai dishes, Sushi and sashimi, Donburi and Noodles. Most of them are served with rice and miso soup and the price range goes from £5.90 for most of them to £6.50 with an exception for the Unaju at £8.50.
There are of course appetisers like hiya yakko (cold tofu with spicy sauce – £4.50), yakitori (£4), plenty of tempuras (a mixed tempura costs £6.50 for two shrimps, two fish and four vegetable), sushi/sashimi (around £3 – 3.50), sushi rolls (6 pieces from £3.00 to £7.50), sashimi or sushi set (£11.50), noodles, katsudon etc!
We decided to go with the chicken teriyaki (served with rice and miso soup – £6.50) and the hot tempura udon (thick noodle with shrimps and vegetable tempura – £5.90). For drinks we got two Asahi beer (twice £2.90).
A nice Asahi beer
The Asahi beer was great and it was nicely served chilled, something not that common when I think about some other Japanese restaurants like the Hazuki not too far from the Akasiro or the Toku where the beer has been too warm to the point we were taking wine or tea instead. Sorry for the photo, it was taken with a Blackberry cellphone.
The hot tempura udon was yummy. It was hot, tasty and spicy. They provide some chilli powder so you can adjust to your own taste. There were two prawns and several sort of vegetable for the tempura. Not that easy to eat with chopsticks even with the spoon but delicious. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo. Same cellphone.
The hot tempura udon
The chicken teriyaki was great too. It was not too sweet, as is sometimes the case with teriyaki and the chicken tasted very good. The bean sprouts were fresh and crispy. Excellent miso soup.
Chicken teriyaki with rice and miso soup
Cost and conclusion: for a little over £18 (service not included) I think it was a very good value for money. We found the lunch excellent and cannot wait to come back to try some other meals The service, just one Japanese man serving where we were there, was efficient, polite and friendly.
Fire & Stone – fireandstone.com
31/32 Maiden Lane Covent Garden London WC2E 7JS
Reviewed on 27 March 2009 lunch time.
Pizza restaurant Fire and Stone
Fire & Stone is located in the touristic area of Covent Garden. It was the party menu 1 for £14.95 per person. For that price you get a glass of Borgo Magredo Prosecco which was good, some Italian breadsticks served olives, a choice between 5 pizzas and as dessert a selection of Italian ice creams (average). There were two vegetarian pizzas (Athena and Byron Bay) and 3 non vegetarian pizzas (Canberra, Cape Town and New York). I chose the Cape Town (pepperoni, ground spicy beef, mozzarella, tomato sauce and mild chilli, topped with fresh basil & oregano) which I found bad… The toppings were quite bland and the base was heavy and crunchy on the edges, nothing light and crispy.
Pizza Cape Town
Booked in group the tables were big but the rest is more like a cafeteria with all the tables in rows.
Cost and conclusion: for about £15 (plus an “optional” 12.5% service charge added to the bill). you can expect better even if it is in a very touristic area. I would recommend the pizzeria Zizzi in the Strand at 2 minutes walk from there (73-75 The Strand, London, WC2R 0DE).
215 Upper Tooting Road London SW17 7TG
Reviewed 24 March 2009.
Al Mirage
Al Mirage is a Pakistani restaurant located close to Tooting Broadway which is a centre of the Asian community of South London. There are many Indian and Pakistani clothes shops, sweet shops and of course restaurants in this area. It is simply my favourite restaurant for eating a curry. I have been there several times and nothing I tried has been bad. The staff are friendly, something that cannot be said for other restaurants in the area, and they help you to choose the meal with some nice suggestions. The place feels airy, thanks to the reasonable space between the tables but also to the high ceiling as from the ground floor you can see a part of the first floor. Strangely, it is not as busy as in the restaurants next door for some reason but people do not know what they are missing! They also do take aways, I never tried it. On the door you can see their Scores on the door (food hygiene rating) and they got 3 stars which is good compared to the restaurants around not displaying their score (as it is too low), with the exception of a few of them.
We took the Al-Mirage Masala Fish (£4) for starters which is a cod fish marinated and deep fried. It was excellent: fresh fish and nicely spicy. I like the fish design plate used with it as you can see on the picture below. Other starters can be the Chicken Tikka (boneless chicken pieces marinated and barbecued – £2.50), the Peri-Peri Chicken grilled or fried for £3.95 (it is a whole chicken marinated in peri-peri sauce), Tandoori Chicken leg (£1.95) etc. They also have many vegetarian starters like Onion Bhajia (deep fried balls of onion and batter – £2), Chilli Paneer (grilled cheese cubes dry or in sauce – £3.50), Vegetable spring rolls (£1.50) etc.
Al-Mirage Masala Fish
Main courses:
Like for the starters they divide the menu between vegetarian dishes and non vegetarian dishes. Vegetarian dishes includes Bombay Alo (a hot spicy potato dish – £3.25), Channa Masala (a rich creamy chick peas dish – £3.25), Mixed Tarka Daal (lentils flavoured with cumin seeds, garlic, ginger and spices) etc. As we aren’t vegetarians, we chose the Lamb Bhuna (tender lamb cubes prepared with fresh ginger, onions, peppers, tomatoes and garlic – £5.50) and the Balti chicken Tikka Masala with cream (£6) in the non vegetarian dishes. Others dishes per example are the Shakari chicken (chicken on the bone – £4.95), the Balti chicken Keema (minced chicken – £4.50), the hot Lamb Rogan Josh (mutton pieces cooked in traditional Kashmir masala with yoghurt and cream – £5.50), the Ginger Chicken (£4.95)… There is also 12 kinds of Naan to choose from! We had two Mango Lassi for drink for £1.85 each (This is a alcohol free restaurant).
Mango Lassi
The Lamb Bhuna was very good, spicy and hot (we asked for making it hotter) but not overly hot. We could still enjoy its taste. The sauce was oily but not too much. Just one downside here: we both had a piece of bone, so check well your plate before eating! The Balti chicken Tikka Masala with cream was delicious. A rich smooth cream, slightly spicy (hot) and the chicken was great, with some burn as it was just grilled. As you can see on the photo below, there is enough sauce for a good use of the Naan
The Lamb Bhuna (red meal), the Balti chicken Tikka Masala with cream (yellow meal) and the Naan.
A closer look
Cost and conclusion: for about £20, the value for money is excellent. Adding to that a good and fast service, this restaurant IS the place to go for anyone who is into curry. Highly recommended!
Pizzeria Rustica 32 The Quadrant, Richmond, Surrey, London, TW9 1DN Reviewed on Sunday 22 March 2009
Pizzeria Rustica in Richmond
The Pizzeria Rustica is located very close to Richmond’s train station and is on The Quadrant busy street, next to a McDonalds. It has a kind of relaxing feeling with all the rustic tables and chairs and the old tools attached to the wall. The tables are close to each other so it is not the place for talking discretely about confidential things unless you happen to work for MI6. We have been there many times there but it is the first time I review it and as you can guess, it is not a bad restaurant as we do not like to hurt ourselves
Antipasti
Of course they have bread & olives (£3.75), Bruschetta (bread topped with tomato, garlic, buffalo mozzarella, basil and olive oil – £4.95) but also interesting starters like Cozze marinara (fresh mussels, garlic, chilli, tomato sauce with crusty bread – £6.35), Scamorzina (smoked mozzarella wrapped in Italian pancetta with rocket and truffle dressing – £6.35), Crostone (melted goat cheese on a crusty bread with sun dried tomato and basil pesto – £5.85) or the Antipasto rustica for two people consisting in plain garlic bread, parma ham, roasted vegetables, buffalo mozzarella, sun dried tomato and olives for £10.95.
Main course
They have specialities like the Pollo (chicken breast stuffed with fresh asparagus wrapped in Italian pancetta with white wine sauce and potato mash – £13.50) but we came today for their excellent stone baked pizzas.
The price range is from £7.85 (Margherita with mozzarella, tomato and basil) to £11.50 for their Pizza 2007 (they won the “The best pizza in UK Award 2007” with that one. It is with tomato bruschetta, rocket and parma ham). Other pizzas, beside the classical Napoli, Tonno or Funghi & prosciutto, are the Noci (mozzarella, gorgonzola cheese, walnut & rocket leaves with no tomato sauce), the Fiorentina (mozzarella, tomato, spinach egg, parmesan and garlic), the Rustica (mozzarell tomato, mushrooms, peppers, aubergines, courgettes, garlic & chilli) or the Calzone which is a folded pizza with mozzarella, ham and mushroom topped with tomato sauce. Any extra topping costs £1.20 excepted for the parma ham, buffalo mozzarella and the king prawns that cost £1.50.
We went for the Calzone and the pizza 2007
Pizza Calzone
Pizza 2007
Overview of the two pizzas and the small table.
The Calzone was great (even if the best ever calzone I had was in Marseille), with crispy pasta and delicious ham and cheese. Here, it would have been better if the cheese and ham were more mixed together than having a “ham zone” followed by a “cheese zone”. The pizza 2007 was good too, but my preference still goes to the pizza Buffalo (that I usually take), mostly because I love the Buffalo mozzarella. Both of them have the toppings added fresh on a cooked pizza base so the base stays crispy. The spicy oil is not that hot compared to what we can find in some pizzerias in France but it is still spicy.
Drinks
Nero D'Avola
They have beer, like Bud, Moretti and the excellent Peroni, all for £4.25 and of course wines. I will pass on the white wines choice to focus on the list of red wines: it starts by the Rosso della casa (Puglia) for £13.95 (not a bad wine, a little on the sweet side), Merlot Venezie IGT (Cielo) for £14.50, Montepulciano D’Abruzzo – Feudi D’Albe 2006 for £14.95, Chianti Gentilesco (Tuscany) – Bonacchi 2007 for £15.95 (easy to drink), Nero D’Avola for £15.95, Maestro Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon Venezie IGT for £16.95, Valpolicella Clasico Valverde 2006 for £17.95 and the Amorino Rosso (Colline Pescaresi) – 2005 for £25.95. We chose the Nero D’Avola and it was fine. Dry enough (I do not like sweet wines) and easy to drink.
Cost and conclusion: an excellent lunch for £37.70 (£21.75 for the two pizzas plus £15.95 for the wine) plus tip. This pizzeria is probably the best one I know, and I have been in many pizzerias around the world. The service is very friendly and they are not pushy like in some pizza chains where they insist you take a starter or a dessert. The pizzas at Rustica are big, be sure to be very hungry if you take the starters too.
Richmond is a nice town so after your lunch you can go to Richmond Park to see the deer or you can go on the river side etc
Richmond
Tide End Cottage 8 Ferry Road, Teddington, Greater London TW11 9NN Reviewed 21 March 2009 lunch time.
Teddington
Teddington is in London, England on the north bank of the River Thames, between Hampton Wick and Twickenham. Teddington might be unknown to you but Alfred Hawthorne better known as “Benny Hill” lived in Teddington
The Tide End Cottage
The Tide End Cottage is a pub located very close from the bank of the River Thames, probably 1 minute walk away.
It is a fairly small pub and we decided to go to the garden area located at the rear of the pub. It is protected against the sun but it wasn’t needed as it was a nice sunny day. When you enter the pub you cannot miss the big plasma screens displaying the sport events (Italy-France rugby game when we were there).
It is a pub so you have sandwiches (all £3.95), oven-backed jacket potatoes (all £4.45) but also more regular meals like fish and chips etc. As a starter we ordered Moules in Garlic Butter which are Irish mussels served in hot garlic butter (£5.95) and a Chicken Liver Parfait (a rich, smooth chicken liver parfait served with a balsamic onion confit, dressed salad garnish, with thick-cut toast and Somerset butter) for £3.25. They both were very good, even if the mussels could have been bigger and the toast a little bit too small for the amount of the paté.
Other interesting starters were the Rustic House Deli Board (Whole baked Camembert, hand-carved Norfolk ham and cold, sliced roast chicken breast. Accompanied by black and green olives, home-style piccalilli, apple chutney, thick-cut bread with balsamic and olive oil dip) for £8.45 or the Backed Mushroom with Goat’s Cheese (large flat mushroom topped with grilled round of goat’s cheese, served with dressed salad leaves and drizzled with red pepper and chilli sauce) for £3.25.
Chicken Liver Parfait
Moules in Garlic Butter
For the main courses there were meals like Hand-Battered Fish and Chips (a large hand-battered fish fillet served with chips and mushy peas) for £7.95, Cheese and Bacon Burger for £8.20, Norfolk Ham and Eggs for £6.95, Scampi and Chips (£6.95), Steak and Shropshire Blue Salad for £6.95 or the traditionnal Curry of the Day for £7.45.
Steak and Chips
Hot Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding Wrap
Things were not that great… The steak was fine but overcooked, the sauce seemed like it came back from a packet. Now my Hot Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding Wrap was bad: the meat was absolutely bland and the wrap that looked deep fried was bland as well and hard on the edge, like if it was microwaved. Just as well I had the gravy and the horseradish sauce for attempting to give life to that poor beef.
A closer look of the hot roast beef in its wrap
Merlot from Chile coming to rescue
Greene King Vs Chilean Merlot: 0-5
Cost and conclusion: for a little over £44 we expected better. It is a pity as the starters were good but the main meals were not. The staff were friendly and nice.
