Address:  63 Frith Street, Soho, London W1D 3JW

Telephone: 020 7734 45454

Website: www.arbutusrestaurant.co.uk

Date of visit: 3 November 2011

Costs: Set lunch £16.95, a la carte around £25 for 2 courses. Evening will cost more.

Wines and beer: Beers around £5 a bottle, decent wine list with a “low” mark up for this part of the London. You can order a one third bottle carafe of the wines (most wines from the wine list) at one third the price.

Likes and dislikes: Pretty good food and prices. The idea of carafe of most wines from the list without extra mark up is a brilliant idea.

Cuisine: Modern European

Summary:

This place has one Michelin Star and is sited at the North End of Firth Street in Soho. The group also owns Wild Honey and Les Deux Salons

The restaurant is decked out in a modern style with high tables and stools at the front near the bar and normal tables with white linen at the back.

On the day we went, Andrew Lloyd Weber and Bill Kenwright were having lunch at the corner table next to us. All we needed was for Cameron Mackintosh to turn up and we would have the full set. Another thought: is Bill Kenwright trying to get ALW to invest in Everton? We could have a musical called Don’t cry for me, Rooney!

Another diversion, before I go back to our lunch, I wish to say that the toilets are downstairs and the corridor to the toilets were full of black and white postcards of “classic” nude women. This sort of display are normally pinned up inside the “male” toilet and not en route to both the male and female toilets.

During lunch, they offer an a la carte and a business lunch menu on a single sheet.  For the a la carte, starters are from £7.95 and most mains are £16.95. P, who has dined here before, recommended the business lunch – 3 courses at £16.95 and 2 choices per course.

Let’s start with the starters. I had the spring greens soup. This turned to be a massive portion of spring greens with a few potatoes and a bit of stock with some sort of white foam on top. In fact, there must have been “five” portions of spring greens in the bowl. The soup was nicely seasoned. There were no salt and pepper on the table. The others had the pork belly salad and it was a reasonable size portion with probably about 10 grams of pork hidden between the leaves. At least, you get enough veg here via the starters.

For main courses, we all had the slow cooked lamb with papperdalle. This was again a good size portion with quite a few chunks of lamb on it. It worked pretty well. No veg with this course.

For dessert, we had the cheese and the apple crumble. The cheese were two small triangles of brie – when combined together, it was the size of a match box. P who did French and German as a degree told me that it was not brie but something like brie.

Throughout the meal, we were served slices of bread – brown or white. I did not recall seeing any butter.

The wine we had was a bottle of 2009 Barbera d’Asti at £28.50 a bottle – very reasonably priced and also very drinkable.

The total bill for 4, including 12.5% service was just over £150. For this we had four business lunch, one and a third bottle of wine, four beers and 4 coffees. Good value.

E

Address: 34 Lisle Street, London WC2H 7BD

Telephone number: 0207 437 2524

Website: N/A

Date of visit: 14 November

Approximate cost per head: Starts at less than £10 per head

Comments on wine list/beer: £2.80 for a Tsing Tao. Forget about the wine list.

Cuisine type: Fujian Chinese
Summary:

In recent years, several non main stream Chinese restaurants have opened up in London which for years had been dominated by Cantonese and to a certain extent Peking/Cantonese restaurants.

The two famous upmarket editions are Barshan in Romily St and Barshu in Firrh St. Both in Soho, London.

Another interesting addition is Leung’s Legend in Lisle St and Bayswater.

Fu Zhou serves Fujian food. It is sited opposite Leung’s Legend in Lisle St.

Inside are 6 tables. Each sits 6. You have to share tables here. It is also a really cheap place serving massive portions.

I was unlucky and was asked to join the same table as a young Chinese family. They had a screaming one year old which more or less ruined my meal.

I had steamed dumplings (£4) served in a bamboo steamer with 8 dumplings and a stirred fried threesome (£11) off the Chinese menu – no English translations. There is an English menu but the food is what westerners are used to than proper Fujian food.

The fried threesome is pig’s liver, tripe and tongue with cauliflower, mange tout and carrots in a chilli wine and garlic sauce. If you like St John’s in St John’s St, you should try here.

The dumplings were basically steamed pot sticker with a minced pork and pak choi centre. Both dishes were fine but I was rushing my meal because the screaming child was driving me mad.

The bottom line is this, do go if you want to be adventurous or on a small budget. The food is pretty genuine and they will do the stuff that Westerners are used to – its not all wierd.

Don’t be afraid to ask for the Chinese menu as most dishes are illustrated with a picture. Try the frogs legs (£13) tossed in a chilli and garlic sauce or the pigs blood soup, etc – yes, it is an unusual menu. By the way, service is OK and the serving staff are helpful.

They do not take bookings, so, go late as Chinese likes eating early. Go in groups of 6 you can take over a table.

E

Address: 80 Spring Street, Soho, New York, NY 10012, USA

Telephone number: +1 212 965 1414

Website: www.balthazarny.com

Date of visit: 14 October 2010

Price guide: $30 per head. Main courses from $15 (lunch). They have different menus for different meals – see website.

Comments on wine and beer: An extensive list with interesting beers on tap ($8 for 16oz), Wines go from around $50 to well over $500. Some very interesting French drinks e.g. Vin Jaune available as well as a large range of sherry, madeira and port.

Summary:

This is supposed to be a French Bistro re-incarnated in Lower Manhattan. I have always wanted to visit the place as I have the cookbook.

The restaurant is open from dawn till well past midnight serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We went for lunch. As I walked in, I noticed that it is done out as a large hall with tilled floor and bottles of wines and bric-a-brac on the sides. The place has a very high ceiling and as there is hardly any soft furnishing, it is very noisy.

The food on offer is French with an American take and American dishes added. For example, there are burgers (from $15) and chicken club sandwiches on offer.

I tried the German sounding larger which was pleasant and then the pumpkin beer. Now, I have had pumpkin beer before, they are almost like a fruity brown ale. This one tasted spicy.

My father had the onion soup n($10) and I ordered the lardon salad ($14) to start with. The onion soup came in a deep stoneware tub and was so thick with cheese that you can stand a spoon in it. The salad was full of leaves and green beans but I can hardly any lardons. I subsequently checked the menu and discovered that the lardon salad has no lardons in it!

Next we ordered the burger ($15) and my favourite, steak tartare ($14) and a side order of fries. The steak tartare was disappointing as it was very plainly flavoured. Being New York, everyone seems to be scared about adding salt to their cooking – blood pressure. But then, they serve such huge portions – obesity! The steak tartare at the Traeth (New Quay) and AWT’s Greyhound are still the best around.

The whole bill came to just over $80 so this place is not cheap nor is it expensive by New York standards. To be frank, I was disappointed. The cookbook is better!

E

PS Excellent fries – as good as you can get.

PPS Recipe from the Balthazar cookbook

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/27/braised-thin-rib-beef-recipe

E

Web site: http://www.mildreds.co.uk

Telephone number: 020 7494 1634

Date of visit: 31/07/10

Approx. cost per head: £18

Comments on wine list/beer: An interesting mix of beers and wines, all organic of course. A nice Castello di Arcano Superiore.

Media link:

Review:

At the heart of London’s West End, just a few minutes from Shaftsbury Avenue, Mildreds is one of the capital’s most popular and best established vegetarian restaurants.

Despite its 22 year history and central location the menu delivers a superbly priced and mouth watering array of choice. Busy but not intrusive, the atmosphere is welcoming and relaxed, and the service prompt and warm – an ideal spot for a nice lunch, or pre theatre evening meal.

As a desert fiend, rarely do I forgo the final course but so good are the starters at Mildreds, a fabulous looking cheesecake gave way to the panfried cherry tomato, halloumi and wilted spinach opener and it was definitely the right choice. We also tried the mushroom and ricotta ravioli which was excellent.

The main courses were a further treat – we opted for the carrot, coriander and bean burger and the sunblushed tomato and buffalo mozzarella risotto cake – both lovely.

The wine list is of course entirely organic, as are the beers. The Castello di Arcano Superiore was a fresh but dry pinot grigio with good length.
Starters weigh in at an average of £6, deserts are similar and mains closer to £10. A good bottle can be found for no more than £20.

Having experienced a highly enjoyable and memorable evening at Mildreds, its blown two urban myths right out of the water. 1) That there’s little value and/or quality to be had in and around Leicester Square and 2) That vegetarian food need be bland, forgettable or uninspiring.

Address: 52 Old Compton Street, London W1D 4PB

Telephone: 020 7437 2480

Website:http://www.algcoffee.co.uk/scripts/default.asp

Opening time: Mon-Wed 9.00-19.00, Thur and Fri, 9.00-21.00, Sat 9.00-20.00. Closed Sundays and Bank Holidays.

Datre of visit : 13 July 2010 (please note prices were correct on 13 July 2010)

Summary:

If you like coffee and tea, this is THE place to visit. They have been trading for over 100 years and is a key supplier to restaurants in and around London. I have been coming here for over 20 years.

They have over 80 varieties of coffee and 120 varieties of tea. You can also order online.

The shop front is painted red (the only one in Old Compton Street) so you can’t miss it.

They sell coffee, tea, coffee and tea making equipment and chocolate ONLY.

The selection of tea is amazing – you are talking about tea from around the world. My favourite chinese tea Dragon Pearl Jasmine (white tea) is available here. In fact they do a bigger range of chinese teas than any shop in China Town, Harrods or Fortnum and Mason. I used to source my tea from Hong Kong, Singapore and Vancouver until I discovered this place.

On the coffee side, they have the famous Copi Luwek at £12.50 per 100g. They also have Jamacan Blue Mountain ……

My favourite coffees are:

Formula Rosa – a house blend which is usually on special offer at around £15 for 2.5 kilo (beans – vacuum packed). This is a strong robust coffee which is used in most restaurants. My other favourite one is the Columbian High Roast decaff. They offer 2 versions, the water treatment or “chemical” treatment. I always take the “water” version which retails at £21.00 for a kilo. By the way, they are happy to sell you any quantity in the shop. However they only offer vacuum packing at 500g and above when they are busy.

The shop also sells a variety of coffee pots, cafeteria and tea pots. They are not as good valued compared with the coffee beans.

If you are in the area, try to visit Dennys and The French House – both on Dean Street, just round the corner – Shaftesbury Ave end. Denny has an amazing collection of kitchen knives – this is where chefs go to buy knives. The only type that tehy are poor at is cleavers. You will buy better cleavers in China Town.

The French House (bar and restaurant) is famous because the French Cabinet (in exile) used to camp down there during the second world war. Many famous artists drank there and this is one of those landmark place that all Foodies should pay a visit to once in their life. There is a restaurant upstairs which I dined in about a year ago – it’s pricy and the food is ordinary.

E