The Big Chill House Kings Cross review - perfect for hanging out

Address: 257-259 Pentonville Road,
London N1 9NL
Tel: 020 7427 2540
Nearest Tube station: King's Cross

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below £10pp
Service charge: N/A
Taste: ***
Service: ***
Ambience: ****
Train stations do get a bit boring these days especially when you are early for a train and just want to find a place to chill. Yes, you can always get a pasty or a sandwich and settle down on one of those cold metallic bench. Not exactly the most exciting thing to do when the weather gets cold.

King's Cross St Pancras, despite being one of the major stations in London, offers surprisingly little for passengers. Even at St Pancras International, where Eurostar train departs, you would be hard-pressed to find a decent bite if you are on a budget.

But if you are feeling more adventurous and don't mind venturing out a bit, you would be able to stretch your pound further. No, I'm not referring to McDonald's or Burger King, not even Chop Chop (you can't miss that, can you?). I'm in fact referring to The Big Chill House along Pentonville Road. Decent food, great prices, free wifi, table counters with lamps and power sockets. Sounds interesting? Read on.



The Big Chill House having recently introduced its breakfast menu asked me down to have a bite. Standin right next to the St Pancras entrance, The Big Chill House is better known for hosting indie gigs. Other than a band staging area complete with a DJ counter, The Big Chill House boosts a sofa enclave aptly named as the 'Snug Corner', a games room, roof terrace and a drawing room.

Remember those table counters I mentioned earlier? Well, those seats were invariably full every single time I was there - I have never seen so many netbooks congregating in one place before, nope, not even Currys and PC World. There's this odd cheer about The Big Chill House - toilets are labelled 'Brothers' and 'Sisters'. Even the graffiti is cheery - "let the sunshine in you out" says one behind the toilet cubicle's door.



You would be thrilled to hear all that food at The Big Chill House wouldn't cause you an arm or an leg with all those bells and whistles thrown in. Most items in the menu cost below a fiver. Most half decent breakfast places in London (even non-English ones - see Food Lab) would offer a variety of the Full English Breakfast and I suspect that is easily one of the more popular items on The Big Chill House's breakfast menu. At £7.50, it comes with two eggs (scrambled or poached), toasts, mushrooms, sausage, baked beans, streaky bacon and tomatoes - the whole works. I'm happy to report that the mushrooms was flavourful and juicy to boot, the garnish on the beans was a nice touch too. If you are looking for something a bit more substantial, this is probably it.



For a quick carbo fix that wouldn't burn a whole in your pocket, go for the homemade rosti (£4.75). Served with a sunny side up with a healthy sprinkle of garnish, it's nothing fancy but would fill you up nicely. I thought it was a tad salty but it might be just me.



Fans of french toasts would be glad to know that its on The Big Chill House's menu too. For £3.75, you get two warm farmhouse bread dipped in egg, vanilla and cinnamon mix, all dusted with a fine layer of sugar icing. There's also a choice of two toppings. When asked what are the most popular toppings, the staff volunteered banana slices and maple syrup so I went for those. He was right, the ripe banana slices, which were already rather sweet on their own, complemented the rather mild tasting toasts quite well. But maple syrup on french toast is always a winner, isn't it?



Belgian waffle (£3.75) came highly recommended by the staff. "Really good for those with a sweet tooth," they said. Nicely presented in the centre of the plate with a dullop of fresh cream in the middle and compote of summer berries on the side, it did cheer me up quite a bit. But I suspect that the waffle has been left on the kitchen counter awhile as it was lukewarm when served. I was considering whether to request having it popped into the microwave for a minute or two but decided that it wouldn't do the compote justice. What I would give for some melted chocolate on top but for £3.75, I shouldn't really quibble, should I?

I hate to repeat myself but travellers waiting for the trains at King's Cross or St Pancras International would find a decent breakfast hangout at The Big Chill House. It's just a short stroll away and wouldn't take you more than three minutes to be honest. For a quick bite, they have cereals (£2.50), thick toasts (two for £1.50) and baps with a filling of your choice (£2.50 each). Seriously, anything is better than the overpriced breakfasts at the train stations.




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The Luxe London Spitalfields Market review - more onion fritters please

Address: 48 Frith Street, London W1D 4SF
Tel: 020 7494 4511
Nearest Tube station:
Shoreditch High Street / Liverpool Street

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below £15pp
Service charge: 10%
Taste: ***
Service: ****
Ambience: ***
You never run out of lunch places at Liverpool Street Station if you work around the area. The entire area from the train station itself to Spitafields Market following onto Brick Lane caters just for the avalanche of hungry souls that just pours in during lunch hour. It’s never ending, it seems that the surrounding office buildings are capable of just spewing out people. It’s almost as terrifying as Canary Wharf.

That is of course great news to the restaurants and eateries in Spitafields. Well positioned to catch the crowd, almost the entire floor space is taken up by shops in the business of feeding people. On one end of the spectrum, you have chain restaurants the likes of Canteen, Carluccio and S&M, on the other, you have Market Coffee House, St John’s Bread and Wine and Bishopgate Kitchen.

I was literally spoilt for choice and resorted to Twitter for recommendation. Wandering Foody quickly came back and suggested Rosa's and Olivia soon after with Lahore's (though I'm not sure whether that's near Spitalfields Market). Fancying some lighter fare (curry is best left for dinner when you can afford to doze off soon after), Rosa’s Thai fare sounded like a better bet.

So there we were cutting across Spitalfields Market on our way to Rosa when we were waylaid by The Luxe. “Have you tried that before?” I asked Wife. I marched into the restaurant before she could respond. Rosa would have to wait another day, I was simply famished and could do with some comfort food.



The Luxe’s menu revealed the usual suspects. An all day brunch menu with a couple of mains. Desperate for some carbo, I went for the salt beef and pickle bagel (£7.50). I could never figure out how people can eat a bagel (or a burger for that matter) with knives and forks. I wasn’t about to grab the bagel with both my hands to maintain some semblance of civility. Instead, I began sawing through the bagel grudgingly. To give The Luxe some credit, its bagel was quite a spread – other than generous slices of salt beef, the pickles, tomato slices and greens made it quite a spread. Note, the bagel doesn't come with chips, the one in the photo above was a seperate order.



Wife’s fish fingers sandwich (£5.50) didn’t do too badly either. It came with coarse tartar, lettuce and tomato slices. The ensemble was much more satisfying than the one served at S&M just across the road. Yes, it cost more but we really couldn’t see ourselves going to S&M for its sandwich again.

What won the day was the onion fritters that accompanied both the bagel and sandwich. Deep fried thinly sliced barely battered onion strips – it was absolutely marvelous. Later, I spied that the server dished the pre-fried onion strips out from a large bowl onto each dish. I was just about to stop myself to ask for more.



With its large windows facing Commercial Road, The Luxe is perfect for watching the world go by during lunch at Spitalfields Market. If weather permits, there’s even a small outdoor area round the back. Fear not, as the entire area is covered, you could lunch there come rain or shine – so long that you are warmly dressed. Fancy takeaway? There’s even a counter just for that.




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@Siam Frith Street Soho review - where phad thai is a boring dish

Address: 48 Frith Street, London W1D 4SF
Tel: 020 7494 4511
Nearest Tube station: Leicester Square

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below £25pp
Service charge: 12.5%
Taste: ****
Service: ***
Ambience: ***
Of all the things that you wouldn't expect when having a meal, having the lights go out on you must count among the top of the list. But that was exactly what happened after our starters at a dinner hosted by @Siam. It was a shame really for we rather enjoyed the deep fried pork (moo daad deow) that was served.

As we stepped out of @Siam later on, we realised that the power outage affected half of the businesses along Frith Street. It was rather surreal to see people filing out in bewildered amusement from Koya and Ronnie Scott, which @Siam is located in between.

We were back again at @Siam a couple of weeks later. Like most invitations, we let @Siam's waiter help us make our selections. Other than phad Thai, chicken green curry, tom yum chicken and Thai fish cakes, I'm not really familiar with other Thai dishes and I suspect I speak for more than a few.

..the waiter whispered in an
almost conspiratorial tone,
"Don't go for phad Thai,
it's so boring."
The funny thing is that if you were to ask me for my favourite Thai dish, it would have to be this noodles dish that I had at a dingy canteen in an army barrack in northern Thailand many years ago. I recall that it cost just 23 Thai baht, which was just about what we can afford for a meal on our meagre army allowance. After an entire night of shivering in the dark, the group of us filed listlessly into the canteen. The thatched roof barely held together in the tropical storm gathering outside. I knew what I would order even before we returned to the camp - the noodle stall tucked in the corner of the canteen served the a simple instant noodle stir fried in mild ketchup with everything wrapped up in a thin ommelette. As you break open the ommelette, the steam from the still warm springy noodles rose with a whiff of ketchup. That is my favourite dish.



After making some selections for us, the waiter whispered in an almost conspiratorial tone, "Don't go for the phad Thai, it's so boring...". I was mildly amused for that would be exactly what I would go for. On hearing that we didn't mind going for the hot and spicy dishes, he got a bit excited and quickly recommended a couple of his favourites (as I requested).

For some reason, none of the Thai restaurants that I've been to in London actually serve naam manaaw (fresh lime juice) and that include @Siam. A pity really, this sour (slight sweet if some honey has been added) concoction, which is a Thai favourite, is one of the most refreshing drink I ever had. It helps increase one's appetite as well. For hot beverages, only mint tea and green tea were served at @Siam. Wife asked whether @Siam served any specialty drink and the Thai ice tea was recommended.



The ice cool tea was served with a small layer of condensed milk lying the bottom of the clear tall glass. When mixed, the slight bitter taste of the tea intermingled with the ostensibly sweet milk - heavenly. In the height of summer, give me a glass of this over Pimms anytime.



E-sarn sausages (£6.95) were served soon after. Don't be misled by the disparate presentation of the fried traditional Thai sour pork sausages. While they looked carelessly tossed on a longish plate together with a small handful of cashewnuts and a couple of cabbage leaves, They tasted better than they looked. Infused with herbs, the meaty nature of the compactly packed sausages complemented the nuttiness of the fresh cashewnuts. If only the cabbage slices were a bit larger, I would simply warp up a sausage and some cashewnuts and down them in a mouthful.



If you think that E-sarn sausages were a tad dry, som tum Thai (£7.50) should definitely be ordered together with it. This green papaya salad was an explosive mix of sourness due to the unripe papaya and spiciness of the chilli seeds dispersed generously. To add some texture, peanuts bits and dried shrimps were added. Fabulous.



Tom yum goong (£6.50) is almost mandatory for every Thai meal. @Siam's was one of the better ones that I had come across - full bodied with a satisfying spicy aftertaste, which made me reached out for Wife's Thai ice tea. But I thought that the prawns could be a little fresher.



Gang phed ped yang (£11.95) was definitely the star of the meal. I love my duck. This one had sliced chargrilled marinated duck breast (skin still attached) cooked in red curry. What made the dish special were the pineapple chunks, lychees, grapes and cherry tomatoes that swirled in the thick creamy curry. A portion of Thai fragrant rice must be had with this.



Weeping Tiger (£11.95) was the final dish. I would love to hear the story behind that name. A quick search online came up with various origins, one of which talked about a tiger who wept when a hunter hunted down one of its cow. Fascinating. A small slab of grilled beef with a small sauce bowl of "exotic Thai sauce", it looked rather underwhelming. But it wasn't too bad when you eventually manage to cut down through the beef (I would prefer a sharper knife). The sauce itself made all the difference - it was sweet and sour with a slight peppery taste. Yes, it did taste somewhat exotic.

One thing that I love about London's Soho is the variety of cuisine that can be found within the small area. You would almost certain to find something different. The ground floor was packed by 2pm when we left for our lunch. @Siam is certainly not the typical Thai restaurant that you would expect. While there are certain items on the menu that would suit the locals' tastebuds (I would avoid using the word "Anglicised" here), there are some traditional dishes to be had. One thing's for sure, I'll check out its phad Thai the next time I'm there.
Make your reservation via Toptable now



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Alpino Islington Chapel Market review - it's the small things that count

Address: 97 Chapel Market
London N1 9EY
Tel: 020 7837 8330
Nearest Tube station: Angel

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below £10pp
Service charge: N/A
Taste: **
Service: ***
Ambience: ***
Coming to London was a rushed decision - something that was decided within a week. Other than a Culture Shock (London), a London A-Z and a travel guide, which name I can no longer recall, we didn't know much about the city. Call it imprudent if you will but we were a whole lot more adventurous back then.

In that edition of the travel guide, there was a write up of the top ten small cafes in London and Alpino along Islington Chapel Market was listed among them. While that obviously wasn't a consideration why we settled down in Angel, but it definitely was a bonus.

Interestingly, we didn't get to visit it once. When we popped by a month after we settled down in London, there was a sign on display saying that the owner was travelling with no return date whatsoever. Fine, we thought. We'd be back a couple of weeks later. Afterall, how long can one be out travelling for?

Very long apparently for the owner didn't return. For the longest time, the cafe just stood vacant. Well, at least it was every single time we walked past. It reopened the recently but with some words stenciled to its glass display - "Italian Snack Bar", it says. Alpino has undergone some management change no doubt but would it still retain the charm that got it onto the travel guide in the first place? I had to find out.

"...he placed the lasagna
on the table. “Enjoy,”
he gave a reassuring smile
with a twinkle in his eye."“Please take a seat,” a matronly woman standing behind the counter gestured towards the back of the café when I stepped in that afternoon. It was 2pm and the weekday lunchtime crowd had yet to dissipate. There was a healthy buzz in the air, that of a local coffeeshop, which you would pop by for a quick meal and expect nothing more. The pricing was just about right too – a quick glance at the menu showed most if not all the items were going for under a fiver.

The new owner made no qualms about being a sports fan; one wall was adorned with 8 inches by 10 inches photos of football stars while another was filled with boxers and sport cars. Sauces on the table were simply named as red or brown sauce. I was almost disappointed to find out that the red sauce was, well, ketchup.

My lasagna (£4.60) arrived piping hot soon after. It was homemade according to the menu and it did taste homemade. The copious amount of Béchamel mozzarella made it very clingy. Some more was sprinkled liberally on it after it was out of the oven making it almost powdery. Not exactly pleasant to the palate.

Curiously, if there’s one thing that I remember Alpino by, it would be the service. No, not the woman who stood perpetually behind the counter, and definitely not the unsmiling young waitress who brought me my tea. But the elderly gentleman who brought me my powdery pasta. With a very pleasant grandfatherly demeanor, he placed the lasagna on the table. “Enjoy,” he gave a reassuring smile with a twinkle in his eye. Funny how one’s day could be brightened up just like that.




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Duchess of Kent review Liverpool Road Islington - great ambience, excellent service, not the food though

Address: 441 Liverpool Road
London N1 8PR
Tel: 020 7609 7104
Nearest Tube station: Highbury & Islington

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below £20pp
Service charge: N/A
Taste: **
Service: ****
Ambience: ****
It was supposedly the last of the Indian summer over the weekend, not that we knew then. The past few days reminded me of the hot and humid afternoons of my childhood. Incapacitated by the sweltering heat, I would just sit glumly in a corner plastered with sweat that simply refused to evaporate.

Lately, it became a bit awkward when conversations drifted onto the weather. "Lovely weather, isn't it?" someone would beam at me. Er, no. I'm literally withering under the relentless heat. I couldn't even bring myself to lie. "No, the heat's killing me." I replied, effectively ending the chat.

Despite all that complaining, we took the opportunity to walk around the neighborhood quite a bit. We were on our way to Freightliners City Farm along Liverpool Road when we hit upon Duchess of Kent at Ellington Street. Having fully digested the two doughnuts from Raabs bakery, which I had gobbled down earlier, Duchess of Kent seemed like a great pit stop.

"Yes, we do," the waitress behind the counter casted a quick sideway glance to a regular nursing his pint when I asked whether they serve any food. It wasn't only me who wondered; a lady who stepped in a couple of minutes later asked the same as well. Duchess of Kent boasts a tasteful interior dining area that rivals gastropubs like The House and The Albion. I couldn't wait for my food to arrive.



When my rib of beef (£14.50) finally did around twenty minutes later, I almost felt sorry for myself and wonder whether I should had lunch at the Farm's cafe instead. The dish looked depressing to say the least. It tasted likewise too. The herb roast potatoes, savoy cabbage, cauliflower and vanilla carrots sounded good on the menu but turned out rather bland. There were a couple of chunks of beef that looked like it spent too long on the kitchen table with a spoonful of watery sauce dribbled over them. The Rosemary Yorkshire pudding would definitely fare better if only there was some gravy. The lady sitting behind me ordered the same dish and actually requested to have more gravy.



Wife on the hand was quite find with her crisp calamari salad (£6.50). Tossed with tomato, cucumber and onion in sweet Thai chilli, it was a refreshing summer dish. I thought they could afford to be more generous with the calamari for they were rather wiry.



Service, however, was pleasant throughout. The staff was really apologetic when our drinks arrived after our food. Apparently, they ran out of milk and had to get some from the local grocer. Nevertheless, they promptly offered to refund the drinks. When I was placing my orders at the bar earlier, an elderly lady was asking about a dish that she had "some time ago" and proceeded to describe it in great detail. The staff gladly obliged and even went through each item of the menu with her. A lesser restaurant would probably just gently nudge her away.

Duchess of Kent is probably a nice place to grab a pint but looking at what arrived on our table that afternoon, it could do better food wise.




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City Caphe London Bahn Mi - handy bite at Bank

Address: 17 Ironmonger Lane
London EC2V 8
Tel: 020 7000 0000
Nearest Tube station: Bank

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below £5pp
Service charge: N/A
Taste: ***
Service: **
Ambience: ***
Knowing that I'm a sucker for bahn mi, MC left me a comment in Sen Viet's review and suggest that I check out City Caphe over at Bank. He was right, I couldn't resist a good bahn mi and we were over there for lunch the very next day.

Ask a Londoner where their favorite bahn mi spot in London is and I'm pretty sure Broadway Market's Bahn Mi 11 would count as one of them. Other than the bahn mi packed with fresh greens, it is really the mini tables and stools that gives the whole bazaar feel to it.

There's really nothing more important in a bahn mi than fresh ingredients (well, like most other dishes). A creation of French Indochina, bahn mi combines the best of both France and Vietnam - the former's baguette and the latter's pickled carrots, cucumber, chilli etc. As bahn mi is usually served at room temperature, the fresh sliced vegetables is pertinent to provide the cool irresistible crunch that is sought after by bahn mi fans.

"It's just round the corner from Goldfish City. Make sure you arrive early," cautioned MC in his SMS, "otherwise you would be standing behind a long queue." Heeding his words, I arrived at around 11.30am that day. Other than two tourists who were more interested in the Vietnamese ice milk coffee (£2.50) in my hand, there wasn't any customer in the cafe.



Tucked along Ironmonger Lane beside Harry's Bar, which one could easily missed, City Caphe turned out to be larger than expected. Though it could be more spacious, it definitely not the hole in the wall that I had expected. Clearly, the owner spent some time doing up the place; bits of embroidery were hung from the ceiling and photos that reminded me of Saigon adorned a wall.

"...there was a swarm of
customers herding into City Caphe
at exactly 11.45am."
Service could be likened to an assembly line. Orders were taken promptly if not a tad curt, not unlike the popular hawker stalls back home when the stallholders know that you would overlook the service if you like the food enough. In fact, it reminded me of Starbucks where initials of the customers were noted for the order collection later on. To increase in turnover rate, the popular bahn mi selections were prepacked and laid out neatly in the glass display shelf just before the lunch peak hour.

True to MC's word, there was a swarm of customers herding into City Caphe at exactly 11.45am. It was rather amusing really - it was as if they were lining up at the side alley waiting for the cue. The queue extended soon after that despite City Caphe having two pairs of hands just doing bahn mi with an entire kitchen staff (I caught of glimpse of them when the kitchen door swiveled opened) churning out pho, bun, bun hue and cuon. By 12pm, the queue extended out along the pavement. Its length remained pretty much constant till 1pm despite it moving rather quickly.



Enough about how popular City Caphe is. Its lemongrass beef bahn mi (£3.90) while decent was not out of this world. I thought that the baguette was a bit too dense for my liking. The beef slices could be thinner as well. By the time we settled down on one of the four small tables within City Caphe, the entire place was packed with people who were either queuing or waiting for their orders. It wasn’t exactly pleasant having people’s bums and knees knocking onto your back every now and then.

Then again, if you are taking it away, City Caphe’s bahn mi would beat Pret’s sandwiches any day. This is definitely the place to go if you are looking for a cheap (but substantial) bite that taste good and yet healthy. The perfect spot to savour this French styled Vietnamese sandwich? The benches at St. Olaves Place just round the corner further along Ironmonger Lane.




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