Address: Old Beaconsfield, Beaconsfield, UK, HP9 1LX

Telephone: 0149 730 183

Views: http://crazybeargroup.co.uk/beaconsfield/

I wasn’t entirely sure where to put this review. I suppose The Crazy Bear is a bar, although like nothing I’ve experienced before.

Firstly, the entrance was a huge, grand door with no sign on it. We only knew about it from a recommendation. Although there are 3 connected restaurants: English, Thai and Italian (and a 4th Japanese opening in May 2012); we only had cocktails in the bar.

It felt almost as though I was in a film. Or at least as though I was some sort of A list celebrity. The cocktail waitresses were wearing ‘fairly’ short skirts, the lighting was very dim, the decor looked incredibly expensive and grand, mirrored ceiling, chandelier, etc. The bathrooms were also out of this world, I would recommend a visit to them if you go. The dress code seemed to vary from dresses and suits to jeans and a t-shirt.

And then the cocktails! The menu itself was probably about three times the length of most restaurant menus. They could make any cocktail you could dream up. It’s probably already on the menu somewhere! It was also almost £15 per cocktail! And they were very, very strong. Delicious though! There were also snacks and tapas available to order almost any other kind of alcoholic drink you might want.

It is certainly not somewhere I would regularly go but if you’re looking for something very different or perhaps a celebration, it was an amazing experience!

Alex

Location: 62 Christ Church Road, Reading RG2 7AZ

Web site: www.sizzlingspice.co.uk

Telephone number: 0118 987 1190

Date of visit: 11/03/12

Approx. cost per head: £12

Comments on wine list/beer:

Media link:

Review:

Very good food, friendly service, very slow.

We went on a Sunday which turned out to be buffet night, although you could still order off the menu as we did. It was fairly busy yet I think we were the only table not having the buffet and as a consequence were perhaps slightly neglected. After eventually ordering it was quite a wait until our food arrived, however what came was delicious!

I had the Salmom Tikka Shashlick which I would definitely recommend- slightly spicy, no sauce but not at all dry. Our table also ordered a tandoori chicken which was apparently beautifully cooked and a garlic chicken tikka bhuna which was, in all fairness, medium hot on the menu but unfortunately slightly too hot for us. The vegetable korma and mattar paneer (peas and cottage cheese in a korma-like sauce) as side dishes were both delicious.

While we were there the restaurant became slightly quieter and the service became friendlier; the heats of different curries were explained and we were taken around the buffet with an explanation of the dishes. They also kindly wrapped up food we didn’t eat to take home. Although I didn’t try anything from the buffet it was regularly topped up  and certainly popular- £7.95 for adults and £4.95 for kids.

The restaurant looked nice, good lightening, attractive decor, although the tables were fairly close together. It was a nice place but not particularly special; the food to refill the buffet was brought out in plastic tubs for example.

Overall it was a good meal. Good food, not brilliant service although friendly.  Very fairly priced. I definitely plan to go back, although perhaps not on a Sunday unless I’m going to have the buffet.

Alex

Address: 21 Great Windmill Street, London W1D 7LB

Telephone number: 0207 437 2745

Website: http://www.melati.co.uk/

Date of  last visit:  22 February 2010

Date of  this visit: 8 March 2012

Approximate cost per head: A la carte dishes mostly under £10. Set meal ( lunch and pre-theatre) for around £10

Comments on wine list/beer: Basic wine list , stick to tiger beer (£3.55)

Likes and dislikes: Bit oily, stay off the beef as it can be tough. Otherwise, excellent food and it is one of my favourite cheap eatery

Cuisine: Malaysian, Indonesian and Singaporean

Summary,

This part of Soho is changing rapidly. The “old” Cafe Royal is being transformed into a 6* hotel. Quite a few buildings are being knocked down. The Old Windmill Theatre has been closed for a while and Maleti has been repainted purple on the outside. It was green when I last came.

The Owner/Manageress (Ms Jackie Tan) – she is always there – explained to me that they needed to redecorate the outside because of the dust caused by the surrounding  re-building.

In anticipation of this part of the world becoming more upmarket, Westminster Council has closed down the seedy joints on Great Windmill Street and at the same time put the business rates up.

I was pleased to see that the food served here remain extremely good value and tasty. Warning : they don’t do beef well here – is it the cut? I have always found the Beef Randang and Beef Sate to be a bit tough and dry. Stick to chicken. They are superb here.

I had chicken sate – 6 skewers at £7.95 – that came with a coarse peanut sauce, curry puff – like a giant curried vegetable pasty  (£4.25) – and Roti Manis (£4.25).  The curry puff was good and bought back memories of Singapore. The Roti Manis is a bit like a paratha but much more flaky. This came with a light curry sauce for dipping in.

For mains, I ordered the Ayam Bawang Putin  (£7.95) which is deep fried marinated (ketchup manis) chicken with lashings of garlic and slivers of chilli. To me, this is one of the great dishes of the world but not good for your cholesterol level or weight if you eat it on a regular basis.

I then consulted Ms Tan on Chow Kway Teow. She told me that only in Hong Kong style do they add curry powder and hence the yellow colour. In SE Asia, they use Ketchup Manis and sambal and hence the brown colour and sweetness. In Malaysia, they sometimes add cockles to the dish.

This place remains one of my favourite restaurant and in my view better and cheaper than Singapore Garden. After all, it has been around – in the same hands – for 35 years. But, the tables are crammed in and the décor a bit basic.

By the way as they add fresh chilli to the dishes and grind their own sambal so you can request the dishes to be hotter. They normally serve it mild.

E

Location:   The Square  Cartmel, Grange over Sands  Cumbria    LA11 6QB

Web site: wwww.thekingsarmscartmel.com

Telephone number: 015395 3324

Date of visit: 05/03/2012

Approx. cost per head: 11.95

Comments on wine list/beer:

Media link:

Review:

A friend and I decided to visit The Kings Arms during a mini-break to the Lake District.

Since our visit was on a Sunday, we are able to take advantage of their Sunday dinner offer of two three-course meals for £25 per couple.

The food itself was very good. My friend began with the Ham Hock and I began with Tomato and Basil Soup. Both were very tasty. For the main course, my friend had Sea Bream, which she seemed to enjoy, while I had a Beetroot and Ricotta Risotto, which was lacking in a lot of seasoning, but also very nice once I had added liberal amounts of salt. For dinner we both had Toffee Pavlova. I was a bit disappointed not to see a sticky toffee pudding on the menu however, as Cartmel claims to be the ‘home of the sticky toffee pudding’.

We did not drink any wine with our meal, but sample some of the local ales which were nice, but not as good (not was the selection as large) as we had encountered in some other pubs in the area.

Jo

Address:  24 Chalfont Road, Seer Green, Bucks, HP9 2YG

Parking:  Medium size car park or park on road.

Telephone: 01494 676308

Website: www.thejollycricketers.co.uk

Date of visit: 6 March 2012

Costs: Around £20 for 2 courses. Sandwiches around £5-8

Wines and beer: Several different beers: Adnams, Fullers’s London Pride, Rebellion and Windsor and Eaton’s Eaton knot t (£3.50 a pint)

Likes and dislikes: Excellent food, clean tables but salt can be a problem

Cuisine: Modern European

Summary:

The Jolly Cricketers is another one of those Pubs that is in every guide: Good Food, Michelin, Good Beer and Sawday’s.

I tried to test this place out some months ago but the road was closed for re-surfacing.

The Pub is modern, light and is divided into the Pub area – they serve food there – and the restaurant. With a name like The Jolly Cricketers, you would expect the pub to face a village green. No, it overs looks a church and a graveyard.

On a Tuesday lunch time, every table was taken.

There are 3 menus. A blackboard with interesting combination for sandwiches, set lunch (£17 for 2 courses) and  a la carte.

I started off with a pint of Windsor Knott  (£3.50) which was quite citrus but pleasant.

I then noticed that they do a salt cod fritter and a pork croquette – both prices at £2.50. I had both. The salt cod was more like a Spanish croquette and it (one) came on a small plate with  sweet red pepper sauce. The pork was a small version – almost half the size of a potato croquet. However you get 3 of them and this was served in a mayonnaise spiked with sliver of garlic. Both were expertly done.

For main course, I had the parmesan ghnocci (£14.50). Now this was home made, quite potato in its taste and came with an orange sauce, shaven parmesan, wild mushroom, finely chopped carrot and foam. This would have been superb and would have  matched the ghnocci that I had in The Wellington Arms in Baughurst. However the chef went and spoiled it by adding too much salt to one of the ingredients – I couldn’t tell which. You end up getting a superb mouth full and then a salty one as the salt was concentrated in one or two areas.

Next to me sat two young ladies and an old lady. The young ladies all had long light blonde hair. What gave it away was that they had really dark eye brows. Hate to say this but Nigella Lawson did this a few years ago and she looked like someone made up for Halloween. She normally looked like a goddess. Glad to say that she soon noticed and reverted back to her normal hair colour.

I think that this place is all right, so I am going to give it another go in a few months time.

E

Address: Westlington Gree, Dinton, Near Aylesbury, Bucks, HP17 8UW

Parking: outside restaurant. When you arrive at High Street from New Street, follow the sign to Westlington Green

Telephone: 01296 747 422

Website: www.lachouette.co.uk

Date of visit: 1 March 2012

Costs: Around £35 for 2 courses from the a la carte. There is a set lunch for £17 and 2 different set meals from £34.

Wines and beer: Belgium and British beer (from £4.50). Exceptional wine list at a reasonable mark up. There is a 1988 Mouton Rothschild for £350. Try the Cote Roti or wines from Cahor at around £50 a bottle

Likes and dislikes: Pretty good all round but no frites with my steak!!

Cuisine: Belgian – haute cuisine

Summary:

After the cafe food of Brouge early on in the week, I thought that I might try La Choutte, an up market Belgian Restaurant near Aylesbury.  Did you know that Belgium has more Michelin starred restaurants per head of population than anywhere in the world and that Brussels has more Michelin starred restaurants than Paris?

The Good Food Guide (2012 edition) described the place as full of Owl paintings by the Chef Patron (M. Desmette)  and that the Chef Patron can be highly opinionated. The wine list was described as superlative.

Well, let’s start with the place, it is a nice detached house with a Citron Van outside with a Belgium  number plate. The inside is divided into two areas, a bar and a restaurant. The restaurant is quite small and has room for less than 20 diners. However, there is ample space between the tables. There are NO paintings. However, there are some very interesting wild life shots done by the chef – poster size copies are on sales for  around £100. With regards to the chef, he was warm and chatty. Well he has a view  – especially on other restaurants – so have I.

Well this just goes to show that even top guides can get it wrong (re photographs instead of paintings).

The menu is quite short – 2 pages including the set meal and degustation. The food was more grand cuisine. No moules , no frites. The wine menu was fantastic. There were grand cru(s) as well as country wines.  A lot of the wines were from the 80s and 90s. I was particularly pleased to see wines from  Cote Roti that were over 10 years old. Cote Roti must never be drunk young.  Clos Rene (my favourite “cheap” Pomerol) also made an appearance – I have never came across this in any UK restaurant. The Red Burgundy list was weak by comparison. I went for a bottle of Clos Triguedina (Cahors) 95 – £45.

Now, I have to say that this is the first time in my life that I have come across a restaurant where the chef did everything – bartender, waiter and cook. I did hear him talk to someone in the kitchen so there must also be a sous chef.

My starter of Croquette de crevettes   (£17.50) was fantastic. There were two swan match box size croquettes filled with  béchamel sauce, brown shrimps and a touch of jambon.  I am a big fan of Spanish croquettes but I near knew that it was also a Belgium speciality. The dish came with quarters of lemon and a sharp salad. It all worked beautifully.

My main course of Rump Steak with Béarnaise sauce came with a grilled chicory, green beans, Brussels sprouts and two flavours of mash potatoes. The steak was cooked medium – red in the middle and no blood – as I asked. The beans were crunchy. But no frites!!!! They deep fried the croquettes so they must have a deep fryer.

To me, this is a fine restaurant and probably one of the top three around this part of the world that have not gained a Michelin star.  The others are Vanilla Pod (Marlow) and Artichoke (Amersham).

Another surprise about the place was that there were quite a few salmon dishes. I have never come across any salmon dishes in Brussels. I suppose that its a case of local ingredients?

E

Address: 241 Hampton Road, Twickenham, TW2 5NG.

Parking:  5 spaces at the pub just off the junction – not easy to use. Park on main road.

Telephone: 020 8977 2698

Website: http://www.brouge.co.uk/About_Page.html

Date of visit: 27 February 2012

Costs:  Express meal (available till early evening Mon-Sat) £8.50 for one course £10.95 for 2 courses and £13.40 for 3 courses. A la Carte: starters around £5 and main courses from £9

Wines and beer: Tremendous selection  of Belgium (40) and British beer. Expect to pay from £5.50 for a pint for draught Belgium beer.

Likes and dislikes:  Parking is difficult. Go by bus (if you can) and have a few pints.

Cuisine:  Belgian and European

Summary:

I have driven pass this place many time and have been attracted by the Belgium Beer sign. So I arranged to meet A (he lives in Surbiton) there for lunch

The inside is all dark wood and black leather chairs. There are 3 dining areas and the place would be able to serve around 100.

The beer list was tremendous. I haven’t seen one with as many different beers since Belgo.

The menu has  moules, pies, steaks, risotto, chicken salmon and burgers.

At lunch time and up to early evening, they offer an express menu (£10.95 for 2 courses).

I went for the chicken liver with sourdough bread followed by moules in a cream sauce and frites.  A went for the day’s special – chicken pie.

The chicken liver pate – a pretty large tub –  was very tasty and came with 4 large slices of crispy toasted sourdough bread. It was a very generous helping considering that it was part of the express menu. You also get a radicchio salad and some sort of chutney.

The portion of  moules was decent size and you get around 2 dozens in a light cream stock. You also get bread and decent French fries. All this for just over £10.

A’s  chicken pie (£10.95)  was top crust and I thought the inside looks a bit watery. It came with mash potatoes with bits of orange (carrots) in it. A ate it all so it can’t be bad.

The place was surprisingly empty on a Monday lunch time. There were less than 10 customers.

I had a couple of pints and will warn you that nothing is less than 5% alcohol.

The lunch – excellent value – was very good.

Address: Spriggs Alley (name of a place!), Nr Chinnor, Oxfordshire OX39 4BX

Telephone: 01494 483011

Website: http://www.sircharlesnapier.co.uk/

Date of  last visit: 13 September 2011

Date of this visit: 23 February 2012

Costs of food: £17.50 for a two course  – set lunch and dinner. Most starters around £10 and most main courses from £20 to £30. Puddings £8.50 and cheese is priced at £10.50

Wines and beer: Wadsworth 6X on gravity drip (£4 a pint), extensive premium wine list at a reasonable mark up. There are some gems (e.g. Ch Mussar at under £40 for the 2003).

Likes and dislikes: Excellent place. Food is good. Tables are clean and not sticky.

Cuisine: Modern British

Summary:

I was impressed with my last visit.

This time, it is an evening meal with D the accountant who helped me out with my last VAT return when I made a mess of the spreadsheet.

The place is divided into 2 dining rooms. The tables are large and well spaced apart. Similar to a lot of places, it is now trendy to have different tables and chairs.

I was surprised to find that they also offer the lunch time set meal  (£17.50) in the evening at the same price. I went for it because it had dishes that I really fancied. For starters I had pigeon breast with lentils. For main course I ordered deep fried egg, spetzle and salsify.

D ordered the crab thimble (£11.50) for starters and the special of the day -  rabbit (£20.50) in a mustard sauce.

The pigeon was served as slices in a pool of sweet and sour lentils – very subtle unlike your normal taste of sweet and sour pork.The pigeon was cooked well done which I welcome as semi raw pigeon is very chewy.

The deep fried egg and salsify was interesting. The egg was served a la Scotch Egg (no sausage meat but bread crumbed and deep fried)  with a runny yolk. The salsify tasted a bit like rhubarb.

D allowed me a taste of the crab (£11.50) and the rabbit (£20). The crab was fine but the rabbit was really special. They managed to make it into a mixture with different vegetables. It was a total triumph of taste, texture and colour – I wish I ordered it.

As we were both driving, we shared a half bottle of Chassagne Montrachet (£32).

A few more words about the wine list. It is definitely one of the most interesting wine list that I have come across. They have some interesting bottles and quite a few from the 90s. There is a 1999 Cheval Blanc at  £350. This wine retails between £250 – £300 and is rated as 91/100. Absolute steal – don’t forget that this is a one Michelin star restaurant. In other restaurants, you would probably pay close to £1000 for the wine.

Well it was a great evening – wine food and conversation etc.

I give this place top marks for value for money and quality of food.

E

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Address: 83 Fairfax Road, Swiss Cottage, London NW6 4DY

Parking: Plenty of metered parking on Fairfax Road

Telephone: 020 7328 5314

Website: http://www.singaporegarden.co.uk/

Date of visit: 22 February 2012

Costs: Around £20 a head for a couple of courses

Wines and beer: Long wine list from around £20. Tiger Beer £3.90 a bottle

Likes and dislikes: Food is fine, prices are good except for the beer.

Cuisine: Singaporean, Malaysian, Chinese (Cantonese and Tiew Chow)

Summary:

Singapore Restaurant is an Iconic restaurant that has been around for nearly 50 years. It has been on my list of must visit restaurants for years.

In the Good Food Guide and Time Out, it is classified as a SE Asian restaurant.

The restaurant has a 60s Art Deco type interior. It is quite big and is divided into 2 halves. There are outside seating. The waitresses were all dressed in traditional Malaysian costumes.

I was surprised to see that the menu is a mixture of Chinese  and  Singaporean/Malaysian dishes; chilli crab, fried kway  tiuw, laksa, beef rendang etc. The Chinese part is interesting as they offered a few Tiew Chow dishes (unusual in the UK) besides the usual crispy duck and other Cantonese dishes. Tiew Chow or Hakka people are Southern Chinese and a lot of them immigrated to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia several generations ago.

I went for the kway tiuw (£8.70) which they claim is their signature dish. I was glad to see that it is the authentic brown version and not the yellow curried version that Hong Kong Chinese restaurants serve up. On top of this, I also went for the braised pig’s trotters Tew Chow style.

The fried kway tiew is cooked very similar to dry fried ho fun in sense that they both use ho fun  (flat rice noodle) as a base and the sauce is absorbed by the ho fun. There should be no liquid. In additional to the taste of soy sauce, the kway tiew  should offer a slightly sweet and hot chilli kick. The bits that came with it are also different. In dry fried, beef is use. In kway tiew, fish cake and prawns are used. The other ingredients in both dishes are bean sprouts and spring onions. The fried kway tiew on offer here was fine but I found it too mild and sweet.

The braised pig’s trotter  (£10.20) came in a brown sauce – star anise, sugar and soy – identical to that used to “red” braise pork butts in Shanghainese restaurants – hardly any in the UK. There is a pseudo one in Oxford.

I was slightly disappointed as the trotter was all bone and skin with very little meat. OK, the bottom half of the trotter is always like that but the top half is meatier as used by the French in stuffed trotters.

The restaurant was about 20% full and most of the customers are non Chinese. I think the dishes here are not Anglicised but certainly it has been adjusted to suit the western palate.

In my view, nearly all iconic non European Restaurants in guides are not truly authentic as the UK palate in the 60s and 70s were not that adventurous – eating out was all about steak and prawn cocktail. In the late 70s, I went with friends to what was supposed to be the first Chinese Restaurant in London on Commercial Road. It was packed. The food was horrible. Everything was sweet and came with gravy.

Lets be clear, the food here is fine but it is not that special to me. I have to admit that I was looking for a chilli hit!

Tiger beer at £3.90 for 300ml was a bit steep as you can buy a case (24 bottles) at Wing Yip  supermarket (Edgeware Road) for just over £20.

E

Address: High Street, Cookham. SL6 9SF

Parking: Parking is difficult on the High Street. The restaurant has its own car park for 20 plus cars.

Telephone: 01628 520085

Website: http://www.maliks.co.uk/index.html

Date of visit: 19 February 2012

Costs: From £10 plus. Sunday buffet £10 per head

Wines and beer: Usual range of beer (£3.50 per bottles). Decent wine list

Likes and dislikes: If Heston likes this place, it’s good enough for me.

Cuisine: Indian

Summary:

Maliks is a past winner of Best Indian Restaurant in the UK. It has 3 branches – Gerrards Cross, Marlow and Cookham.

Cookham branch is the motheship of the Malik empire.

In this month’s Waitrose magazine, I discovered that Heston Blementhall eats there (Waitrose Kitchen Feb 2012|).

The building is very much what an old Pub of several centuries old should look like – exposed beams etc. The restaurant is in 3 sections. Crisp linen etc.

I went for Sunday lunch and discovered that they offered a buffet lunch for £10 a head. The three starters on offer were vegetable samosas, chicken pakoras and butter chicken. Although we arrived at 12.45, the samosas and chicken pakoras were still crispy and the butter chicken melted in your mouth. This is due to the fact that they cook their food in small batches to replenish the buffet and there is a high turnover. The place was almost full whilst we were there. The samosas were stuffed full of different vegetables including cabbage – a new one on me.

For main courses, you get 3 vegetarian dishes and 3 meat dishes in sauces – 2X  chicken and 1X lamb. No  grills. The were rice and roti. For dessert, they offer pineapple, lychees (tinned) pears and some sort of koufee.

Without doubt this was one of the best Indian meals I have had for a long time and definitely top marks for a buffet – price, quality and value. The service is diligent but they don’t  hover round you. The foods were all pretty mild from a chilli point of view. I suppose that with a buffet, they have to make sure that the dishes are mild.

E