Tsuru review - Bishopgate Japanese food waiting to be discovered

Address: Unit 3, 201 Bishopgate,
London EC1 9AN
Tel: 020 7928 2228
Nearest Tube station: Liverpool Street

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £15 pp
Service charge: 12.5%
Taste: ***
Service: ***
Ambience: **
Suitable for: a hangout after work“Hey, there’s a new Japanese eatery at Bishopsgate,” a friend told me excitedly the other day, “and they have curry katsu as well!”. There is this eternal fascination with Japanese curry katsu. Ask anyone to name the first Japanese dish that comes to their mind, I’m sure the humble curry katsu would be just behind the much loved sushi. It’s almost like dim sum to the Chinese cuisine.

“It’s at 201 Bishopsgate,” she replied when I asked for its location. Wait a minute, isn’t that the ugly looking metallic office building that came up not too long ago? She insisted that Tsuru has opened up another branch in the building. I found out later that Tsuru is hidden away from Bishopsgate and is in between two halves of 201 Bishopsgate under the gigantic slanted diagonal steel support. If you can’t find it, just walk around the entire building.

I’m just a bit curious about the choice of Tsuru’s location. Its first restaurant was hidden away behind (italics) Tate Modern and this time round, it is tucked behind 201 Bishopsgate’s huge metallic façade. But then again, there’s a lack of small eateries in the immediate vicinity. Tsuru is well positioned to capture the crowd heading towards Liverpool Street station’s Moshi Moshi and Spitalfields Market.

We stepped into Tsuru at around 8pm on that day. There were only two other tables occupied – one by a group of four who were feasting over sake and plates of sushi and the other by two ladies who looked more at home touring Tower of London  than in the heart of Bishopgate.

The food arrived after what felt like a long wait to me. Perhaps it was the uncomfortable high stools that we were perching on but the cranes origami extended from the ceiling did distract me from my growling stomach.

Agadashi tofu (£4.10) was the first to arrive. Wife quickly pointed out that it was the soft tofu and not beancurd served at Crane & Tortoise. The tofu was thinly battered and was a bit better than the one served at Tokyo Diner.

Chicken karaage (£4.25) was up next. Though I’ve tasted worse, Tsuru’s chicken karaage was average at best. I thought that it should have been dripped dry before being served as there were already oily patches on plate that it was presented on when brought to the table.

The tonkatsu (pork) curry (£7.95) came soon after. The deep fried battered pork was done quite well and the short grain rice wasn’t mushy at all. However, the thinly shredded cabbage, which added the extra crunch to the dish, could come with a bigger portion.

That said, it was quite clear that the curry is not prepared from those instant curry powder (yes, I am referring to Wagamama) where you can actually taste the fine powder within. Tsuru’s curry is boiled for over 8 hours (according to its website) and served with potatoes and onions, just the way I like it.

The green tea mochi ice-cream was an afterthought really. We just didn’t want to be out too soon as the wind was clearly building up outside. Though a bit tough, we agreed that the sesame paste in one of the mochi was really good. We cleaned up the dessert in under a minute, so much for an excuse to stay in.

Though Tsuru is not exceptional, it is nevertheless a convenient place for a cheap (better deals during lunches) and cheery Japanese meal in Bishopgate. One surprising thing is that despite Tsuru’s promotional efforts (see Tom’s review), not many people working in the vicinity know about the restaurant. These days, Tsuru is getting crowded during lunches. I suppose it’s relying on the good old word-by-mouth publicity.

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Old Queen's Head review (Islington) - a disappointing Sunday Roast

Address: 44 Essex Road, London N1 8LN
Tel: 020 7354 9993
Nearest Tube station: Angel

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £15 pp
Service charge: 10%
Taste: **
Service: ***
Ambience: **
Suitable for: a hearty breakfast after a hangoverThere’s this quaint little pub just outside our place along Essex Road in Angel. Perhaps ‘quaint’ wouldn’t be the correct word for Old Queen's Head at Islington with the spotlights flashing within and long queues outside the pub almost every evening but that was the exact word I had in mind when I visited it for a Sunday roast on a splendidly beautiful Sunday (when else?) morning.

Mention a pub, images of people standing around with a pint in their hands with loud music (sometimes live) playing in the background come to mind. As it gets later into the night, the music becomes louder, conversations more heated and voices more slurred.



There was a time when smoking was allowed indoors. Revellers who were eager to be seen with the in crowd remained in the pubs despite being suffocated by second hand smoke. It didn’t take long convincing them to light up a fag as well, assuming that they were non-smokers to begin with. With indoor smoking banned, pub goers would only have to contend with vomit. That’s probably the reason why most pubs don’t come with carpets in the first place.

Anyway, Old Queen's Head looks quite different on a Sunday morning. There was a sign placed outside on the pavement in a half-hearted attempt advertising their Sunday roast. Other than a couple of staff whom I have no doubt weren’t the same running the show the night before, the entire pub was empty. Well, save for a chap slumped over the bar.

We settled down on the deep red hard leather sofa (the type that is alcohol and vomit resistance) at the edge of the pub. With a decorative fireplace, which might have been functioning once, and a stuffed antelope’s head perched on the side wall, there was a rather melancholy air to the it.

I took a look at the menu. Chicken, beef and lamb. No brainer really. “Can I have a roast Welsh lamb please?” I almost had to tiptoe over the bar. It was only recently that I found out that Napoleon was a full inch taller than me. Didn’t help my self-esteem a bit. A fresh eye waitress took my order and promised to be deliver our order to us in a moment. Perfect.



The roast Welsh lamb (£12) looked healthy. Not the slab of meat itself but the mixture of cauliflower, broccoli and beetroot topped with a couple of roasted potatoes. The lamb was a tad cold and uninspiring. In fact, it didn’t even looked freshly roasted and tasted flat. If not for the beetroot and piping hot potatoes, I wouldn’t be able to finish the meal really.



The chunky hand cut chips was a different matter altogether. It was lightly deep fried in fresh oil. That, and the warm baguette that came with the soup of the day made my day. As we finished our meal at around 1pm, people were streaming in gradually for a really late brunch. I guess the free newspapers (Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Sunday Times, you name it) helped as well.

If having high tea at Ritz is the thing to do in London (I personally wouldn’t recommend doing that at Fortnum & Mason), then doing a Sunday roast at a proper pub is a must. Even though the roast at Old Queens Head isn’t the best but it is an experience nevertheless. But I'll probably head towards The York, which is a stone's throw away from Angel station, the next time round. Unlike Old Queen's Head, The York is almost certainly packed on Sunday mornings.

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La Porchetta review - pasta right up Islington's Upper street

Address: 141 Upper Street, London N1 1QY
Tel: 020 7288 2488
Nearest Tube station: Angel

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £20 pp
Service charge: 10%
Taste: ***
Service: ****
Ambience: **
Suitable for: those looking for something
better than StradaThese days we feel a bit lost without La Forchetta, the place that we normally headed to for reliable and affordable pasta. We walked past it last week again while strolling along Angel’s Upper Street. “Hey look,” I waved to Wife, “they have removed yet another piece of boarding, maybe it’ll reopen soon.” So it has come to this. Given a choice, I would probably squat outside the restaurant and bid my time.

Honestly, La Forchetta wasn’t even that good to begin with. It was the sort of place where you could just pop in for a pasta after work and not feel guilty about it thereafter. In the sense that it wouldn’t burn a hole in your pocket for I am never a person who would be guilty about all that carbo – I would just go get a looser pair of jeans.



Wife emailed me at precisely 4.30pm that day. “Fancy pasta at La Porchetta?” read the email’s subject. Upon clicking on the email, I realized that she had called earlier and made a reservation at La Porchetta, which is further up along Upper Street that very evening. That’s what I adore about Wife really. She fully believes in consultation and we invariably reach an amicable agreement as in the case here.

Like La Forchetta, La Porchetta is a chain restaurant. In fact, there is another La Porchetta near Exmouth Market along Rosebery Avenue, a mere 15min walk away. But for some reason, we have never got a chance to pop in for a pasta.

“Welcome!” the burly head waiter with an white apron grinned widely as we stepped into La Porchetta. The only reason why I assumed that he was the lead staff was because he was the only guy who went around explaining which each dish on the menu was upon request. We were led to a table for two just beside the window. I felt jollier already as we were seated down.



“Can I get you any drinks, sir?” Sensing my hesitation, he quickly continued, “What about some corretto?” and he went on to explain that espresso with grappa, an Italian brandy made from pressed grapes - just the drink that I needed at 9pm on a weekday.



Surprisingly, the corretto (£2.80) went supremely well with the traditional bruschetta (£4.10) that we ordered for starters. The fresh tomato cubes on the toasted homemade bread doused in olive oil easily soothed the kick that a sip of corretto gave. Don’t be deceived by the utensils for the bruschetta is definitely meant to be eaten through deft maneuvering using ones’ fingers.



It’s interesting how you can pick up certain things just by watching TV programs. I was watching Rick Stein’s Mediterranean Escapes the other day and he was speaking to this Sardinian chef who was flabbergasted that spaghetti alla carbonara nowadays are made with parmesan cheese and bacon. That, to him, was nothing short of blasphemy. In his opinion, the real carbonara should be made with pecorino cheese and pancetta. The one served at La Porchetta was served with parmesan cheese and bacon but at £7.60 per serving, I guess I can’t complain, can I?

I thought that the spaghetti was a tad undercooked and the milk in the carbonara sauce was too much for my liking. Then again, my palate might be been damaged beyond repair by La Forchetta. All in all, the serving, like most spaghetti carbonara, was huge



The linguini mare e monti (£9.95) that Wife ordered came with a couple of sizable peeled tiger prawns. While the parsley and chopped tomatoes added a peppery and tangy taste to the dish, the accompanying sliced chorizo came across as somewhat heavy. Not that I have any complain about that as most of it ended up on my already cleaned up plate by the end of the evening anyway.

The bill came up to more than double compared to our last visit to La Forchetta but we were more than satisfied as we left the restaurant two hours later. Well, though it is a further walk from Angel central, it would be a tough choice for me when La Forchetta reopen its doors.

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Chilli Cool review - London King's Cross Sichuan food

Address: 15 Leigh Street, London WC1H 9EW
Tel: 020 7383 3135
Nearest Tube station: King's Cross, Russell Square

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £15 pp
Service charge: 10%
Taste: ****
Service: **
Ambience: *
Suitable for: those looking for affordable Sichuan
cuisine in central LondonAfter my wetting my tastebuds for Sichuan food at Empress of Sichuan, I am totally game for more Sichuan cuisine after coming across London Foodie's review of Chilli Cool at Bloomsbury. Unlike London Foodie who visited Chilli Cool during the dead of winter, I might have missed the best period to 'sweat it out' at a Sichuan eatery with milder temperature returning to London and flowers blooming all round the capital. But given the Chilli Cool's good reviews, I had to go find out for myself just how good it is.

Chilli Cool is good. Pure and simple. I would probably leave it at that and insist that you go check it out but I thought it probably wouldn't do Chilli Cool any justice in doing so.



Like what London Foodie mentioned, Chilli Cool Hotpot sits right beside Chilli Cool's main restaurant (at the further end of the picture above). There was only a lone Japanese elderly man occupying seat by the window when we stepped into the restaurant. With the balmy weather outside, it was the perfect setting for a lazy late lunch with a bottle a Tiger beer with a novel at hand and that was exactly what the Japanese gentleman was doing.

Chilli Cool's kitchen is located in the basement. There was a commotion whenever a dish was to be served - there will be a thump in the internal vertical passage accompanied with a shout of from the kitchen indicating the name of the dish being sent up. I caught a glimpse of the dish as a staff served it to the elderly gentleman. It was tofu and slices of meat, and perhaps the most prominent of all was the generous portion of dried chilli sitting right on top of it.

After starving for most of the morning, we were desperate for some carbo and quickly ordered a dan dan mian, roast beef noodle (hong shao niu rou mian) and a ma la tofu. The tofu probably wasn't a perfect accompaniment to noodles but it was highlighted as a 'classic Sichuan dish' so we went for it anyway.



The dan dan mian, in my opinion, was better than that served at Empress of Sichuan. Unlike Empress where fine egg noodles were served in a mild spicy soup, the dan dan mian at Chilli Cool was thicker and served dry with bean sauce mixed with chilli oil, which gave it a nice savory taste. The mince meat and strands of vegetables added a nice touch to the dish. Wife originally ordered it for herself but I ended up gobbling it most of it. Need I say more?



The roast beef noodle was my idea. That was one of those times when I actually wished that I had a bigger stomach. Although the same noodle was used for both this and dan dan mian, the roast beef noodle came in a heavily beef stocked soup with chunks of soften beef cuts and a heavy layer of chilli oil floats right on top. It was a refreshing change from the drier dan dan mian.



We were a bit hesitant when ordering ma la tofu. When asked how it would be served, the waiter replied,"Erm, it's the normal tofu." And that was after he checked with the kitchen. What the hell, we ordered it all the same and we were glad we did so.

The soft tofu came dispersed in a starch soup with a healthy dose of, you guessed it, chilli oil. The winning touch was the addition of a small handful of peanuts. The curious mix tofu's softness and peanuts' crunchiness was what made this dish interesting.

With most dishes come under £7-£8 and come in generous portions, Chilli Cool doesn't have the poshness and location of Empress of Sichuan but it is definitely worth going out of your way for it. Two thumbs up for this one.

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Soho Pizzeria review - easily the best pizza in London

Address: 16-18 Beak Street, London W1F 9RD
Tel: 020 7434 2480
Nearest Tube station: Piccadilly Circus

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £15 pp
Service charge: NA
Taste: ****
Service: ***
Ambience: **
Suitable for: a first date or night out with palsAfter getting the tickets for Mrs Warren's Profession, we were deciding on a quick pre-theatre dinner when a sudden craving for pizza came over us. Not those thick bread slices with a thin cheese film masquerading as pizzas peddling for £1.50 in Leicester Square and definitely not Pizza Express (which in my opinion, was doing pizzas an injustice) but some real pizzas.

Having heard of raving reviews of Soho Pizzeria where I always walk past on my way to Carnaby Street en route to Cha Cha Moon but never once try, we decided to trek from TKTS and give it a go this time round.



Soho Pizzeria, located at the junction of Soho's Beak Street and Upper John Street, with its neon lit cosy interior was modelled after the pizzerias found in New York's Soho. There is a corner in the pizzeria dedicated to live music performance, mainly jazz ones really. A pity that we didn't get the benefit of watching one as Larson, the waiter serving us, informed us that live music would be available from 7.30pm every evening save Sunday.

Though it wasn't quite packed while we were there at around 6pm, I suspect with its tight arrangement of furniture, it would be a crowded affair when there there is life music. As we were rather short of time, I hastily beckoned Larson (who was doing a little dance in his bow tie and white crisp shirt near the doorway to the soft background music) and placed our orders.

"Would you like cheese with your African Neptune?" Larson queried after I made the order for this interesting concoction of tuna, anchovies, olives and capers. "Well, it's good without cheese but some people might like cheese with their pizzas," Larson carried on. "What would you recommend?" I ventured, not sure whether I was game for a pizza without any cheese. "I suggest you add cheese," concluded Larson much to my relieve.



I realised later that the cheese topping added £1.30 (inclusive of 30p to an African charity) to the £8 price tag of my African Neptune pizza. Not that I have any complains really. At 10", it was smaller than the regular 12" servings at La Forchetta, but the tuna and anchovies toppings were generous and went beautifully with the cheese. In fact, I couldn't imagine the pizza without cheese. Wouldn't it be like mere meat toppings on toasted bread?

Now we are on the subject of bread. I recall there was a big hoo-haa when Pizza Hut first introduced pizzas which rims were filled with cheese when I was a kid. But the bread base in Soho Pizzeria is in a league of its own. Its softness and consistency reminded me of the Turkish bread that I had at Hazev, totally unlike the hard fire baked pizzas toasted to a crisp at most pizzerias that I have been to.

Wife agreed wholeheartedly while munching on her Hawaiian. "It probably wouldn't be as good if it's bigger." Perhaps but we concurred that the pizzas at Soho Pizzeria were easily the best pizzas that we have tasted. Period.



"How much would you like to pay?" mumbled Larson in his baritone voice when he came with the bill later. Bemused, I took a quick glance at the scrape of paper placed in front of me and realised what he meant - the bill did not include service charge. That probably explained why another waiter didn't react to my request for the bill earlier. No issue with that personally as Kristine Keeler's picture outside the gents would easily justify a return trip.

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Wikio Gastronomy blog ranking April 2010

Hey all, I'm taking over the baton from London Eater for this month and here's the sneak preview for April's Wikio ranking. The good folks over at Wikio rushed this finalized version out before the Easter.

1 The Guardian - Word of Mouth (=) 2 Cheese and Biscuits (+4) 3 Eat like a girl (-1) 4 Food Stories (-1) 5 Hollow Legs (=) 6 A rather unusual chinaman (+4) 7 DOS HERMANOS (-3) 8 Thring for Your Supper (-1) 9 Thecattylife (+2) 10 Around Britain with a Paunch (+21) 11 Gastronomy Domine (-2) 12 The English Kitchen (Ent.) 13 London Eater (-5) 14 Essex Eating (-2) 15 Spittoonextra (+4) 16 The Daily Spud (+59) 17 Intoxicating Prose (-3) 18 The Foodie List (=) 19 Meemalee's kitchen (+19) 20 Tinned Tomatoes (-7) 21 Pig Pig's Corner (+5) 22 Ice Cream Ireland (+26) 23 London Chow -Where to eat in London (-7) 24 Crumbs and Doilies Cupcakes blog (+3) 25 The Graphic Foodie (+7) Ranking by Wikio

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