Gourmet Burger Kitchen, England by Bureaucrat

I do miss having a good burger... especially like the ones at Grill'd with its gluten-free buns.


There's a few burger chains in this grey country, but none quite the same as Grill'd. However, GBK, a Kiwi chain, comes the closest. They don't offer gluten-free buns, but at least they have a wider selection of burgers.


For lunch one day, I ordered the chicken burger with the homemade babaganoush. Decent size, the breast fillet was tender and the babaganoush was smokily yummy. A side serving of chips was on the small side for the price.


The Lawyer had the buffalo burger. The feedback was that it just tasted like beef but a little gamey.


Lunch was washed down with a glass of South African cider.

Overall
Pretty good range of burgers, even for the veggie-inclined diners. Good sized burger. Would come back, no complaints!

Address
Gourmet Burger Kitchen
Jubilee Place
Canary Wharf E145NY
Telephone: 0207 719 6408

London Review Cake Shop, England by Bureaucrat

Tucked away in a little courtyard is the London Review Bookshop - a cosy bookshop that has an even cosier cafe, the London Review Cake Shop, within it.


According to its website, the cafe is managed by an Australian. That probably explains why I like the food so much here. It's the typical (but in a good way) cafe fare that's so abundant back home but so incredibly rare in the Motherland.


Sitting in here in the warm cafe, with the quiet hum of conversation and comforting sounds from the kitchen makes me forget that I'm in the centre of London.


Seating only about 15 people in total, the little cafe serves a pretty selection of cakes and pastries - many of which cater to people with food intolerances (gluten, nut, dairy, egg free, etc).

There is a small but changing selection of light meals. Homemade quiches, artisanal breads, tempting sandwiches (proper sandwiches here - none of them hideous pre-made 'fresh' triangular sandwiches befouls this place), organic soups.


Feeling carb-conscious, Mr M ordered an egg, sundried tomato and cress sandwich on a gluten-free walnut bread for lunch. Mr M liked it and said afterwards he didn't feel bloated.


I went for the mushroom quiche which came with two salads - fresh baby spinach leaves and a bulgar salad with kidney beans, cannelini beans. Normally I can't stand legumes but I ate most of them. The quiche was just right - eggy and mushroomy.

Another time I went, I had a delectable organic mushroom soup which was served with buttered crumpets topped with goats cheese.

Overall
Love this place, the food and the vibe. Not at all like the Gloria Jeans that you find within Borders. I just wish there were more places like this. I've yet to try the coffee but it smells really good.

Address
London Review Cake Shop
14 Bury Place
London WC1A 2JL
Telephone: 020 7269 9045

Chinny's Broodjeszaak, Rotterdam by Bureaucrat

Having lunch at Chinny's Broodjeszaak, a Surinamese cafe, in central Rotterdam has been the most intriguing meal that I've had this year.





I had no idea where Suriname was, except thinking that it was somewhere in Asia or Africa.


But a google search told me that I was completely wrong - Suriname is a country in the northern part of South America. The only thing I got right was that Suriname used to be a Dutch colony.


The Lawyer ordered Soto Soep. Thinking it was just a bowl of soup, it came with a small serve of rice. It was a mildly spicy chicken soup with shredded chicken, an egg, onions and beanshoots. We weren't quite sure whether you ate the rice as a side dish, or whether you were meant to put all the rice into the soup. Either way, the Lawyer liked it. I liked it too.


I ordered the Roti met Lamsvlees - a lamb curry on rice. The curry tasted like a yellow curry with potatoes. It came with cabbage, green beans and a boiled egg. Tasty and filling. It came with something that looked and tasted very much like kecap manis and chilli sauce.

Overall
I'm not very clued up on Dutch colonial history, but from what we had, Surinamese tasted very much like Indonesian cuisine. I'm sure somewhere along the line the Dutch colonialist would have spread the different food and cultures across their colonies.

A casual place that serves a range of snacks and hot meals. Simple, tasty, homestyle cooking - there were too many new things to try! The menu is in Dutch, but the staff are happy to translate. I'd definitely go back if I'm in Rotterdam in the future.

Address
Chinny's Broodjeszaak
Hoogstraat 160
3011 PV
Rotterdam
Telephone: 010 2134850

New King, Amsterdam by Bureaucrat

In a side trip to Amsterdam we had lunch at New King which is located in Chinatown.


It's not until I travel to countries do I realise how long it's been since I've eaten many staple Asian food and dishes. Naturally I blame this culinary hiatus on the lack of good food in the UK.


So with anticipation the Lawyer ordered the roast pork, roast duck and char siu on rice.


While I ordered the soya chicken on rice.

Both dishes were of a good size. All the meats weren't too fatty and tasty. We also got all the good cuts (as you'd know, sometimes it's a bit of a lottery when it comes to ordering these dishes - one get can get all the bony or overly fatty bits of the roasted meats).

Good, (relatively) cheap food...how I miss thee.

Overall
A typical mid-range Chinese cafe/restaurant. Service was prompt and friendly, and quite spacious. No complaints here.

Address
New King
Zeedijk 115-117
Amsterdam 1012 AV
Telephone: +31 (0)20 625 2180

Proud Mary, Collingwood by Big Fil

Christmas is coming and the slowdown in work meant that we had time to explore a little further from the office during our lunchbreak. Ms Counting her Calories wanted to get a little bit out of town so together with Snooze we ventured out to check out Proud Mary.


Now I know this place has been around for a while and that every man and his dog/cat/goldfish has already visited and blogged about it. However, between travelling, it being on slightly the wrong side of town for me, and the sheer number of cafes Snooze and I have on our list of places to visit we never got around to paying a call.

The setup is the sort of industrial open space area with individual and communal table arrangements that has become so prevalent in the inner eastern and northern suburbs. While I didn't find the arrangement as interesting as, say Three Bags Full, it felt that they made good use of the available space with plenty of natural light and no danger of bumping elbows with other diners.



Snooze made an unusual choice for her, avoiding the lamb kofta with chickpeas to go for the chipotle beans which came with corn bread, crisp pork belly and a poached egg. The pork belly was delicious, more tender than crisp but not nearly as fatty as you sometimes get. The corn bread was full of flavour and the egg perfectly poached. And while Snooze felt the beans could have used something to give them a bit more punch I thought they were good.


With my first choice snaffled by Snooze I went with the ricotta hotcakes with baked banana, butterscotch and peanut butter ice-cream. This was one of those dishes that put together things I haven't seen in combination before but seemed likely to work. And they did. The hot cakes were thick but light and fluffy on the inside, and lightly crispy on the outside. The butterscotch sauce and baked bananas created an almost sinfully rich topping and the peanut butter ice-cream complemented the rest of the dish well. Not too subtle a dish but real tasty and comforting style food.


After I picked the dish Ms Counting her Calories was leaning towards she went for the Potato Hash, with asparagus, bacon, a poached egg and bagna cauda, an anchovies and garlic cream sauce. Again the egg was perfectly poached, the bacon nicely crispy. Ms Counting her Calories felt the hash was a bit over salty but I didn't find it so and thought it was well cooked.


Overall
While it didn't seem overly full for the number of staff it was at first a bit chaotic and we were left standing to the side for what seemed an unnecessarily long time while a place was cleared for us. However once we were seated staff were very friendly (without being overly so) and our orders arrived reasonably promptly. The food itself I enjoyed a lot and they prices were quite reasonable for the quality provided.

Verdict
Food - 8.5
Service - 7.5
Ambience - 7.5
Prices - 7.5

Address
172 Oxford Street
Collingwood VIC 3066
Tel: (03) 9417 5930

Maedaya, Richmond by Big Fil

My first suggestion for Saturday night dinner was shot down in flames. Second choice was Maedaya, a Sake and Grill bar located on Bridge Road, Richmond.


Maedaya is apparently modelled on a Japanese Izakaya, somewhere to go for a combination of drinks and small servings of food. Now I've never been to an Izakaya before but after our visit I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.


The first step is to have a few cocktails while waiting for Snooze, who got caught in the traffic from the Melbourne Victory versus Melbourne heat soccer match or the Bon Jovi concert.

Second step is to munch on the complementary Edamame (young soy beans) while making up our minds whether to order or continue waiting.


The third step is to order a stack of mains timed to arrive just at the same time as the rest of the diners. Fourth and final step, enjoy the food and drink and have a good time. And there you have it. Simple really. As to the food most of what we tried was very good. It was a pretty even split between the dishes of the night, the soda noodles or the sizzling scallops. We went for two different noodle dishes, the cold soba salad and the Kaisen Yakisoba, fried noodles with seafood. Both were good with the sesame seed coated soba salad probably the more popular.



The other choice for dish of the night was the sizzling Hotate and Shimeji Itame - scallops and mushrooms. These were my favourites. Because I didn't get them straight after coming out the scallops had slightly overcooked and didn't quite have their firm texture, but the taste was delicious and given a real kick by the addition of a little pepper.

Photo 50

Most of the other dishes we ordered were also very tasty. The Buta Nokakuni (pork belly in sweet ginger soya sauce) was melt in the mouth tender, the Goyoza nicely meaty and not over or under fried. I liked the Kuwari Tuna Sashimi although Ruby Grapefruit wasn't such a fan, with the tuna being lightly cooked on one side rather than raw all the way through.




Also good were the skewer sets that we ordered, the Maedaya Tsukane Set and the Maedaya Sumiyaki Set. The only one which I tried and didn't particularly like was the bacon and cheese skewer, a flavour combination that just didn't seem to quite work.


A couple of dishes didn't live up to expectations. The salt and pepper squid was a little chewy, and I found the Takoyaki served in a cheesystyle of sauce a bit too soft and lacking in texture.



It was marginal but we had just enough room for dessert. And really good desserts they were too. Despite the general disdain for all things soy around the table Snooze went for the soya panne cotta. This was deliciously creamy and delicately flavoured (and agreed to as delicious by allthe doubters), as well as being appropriately wobbly. The green tea and sesame ice creams were also very good and surprisingly unsweet (if that's actually a word).

Overall
Good food, good service, good prices in an interesting and friendly place. We all really enjoyed our visit and would happily return.

Verdict
Food - 8
Ambience - 8
Service - 8
Price - 8

Address
400 Bridge Road
Richmond VIC 3121
Tel: (03) 9428 3918

The Bantry Restaurant,Taupo (NZ) by Big Fil

I know I'm normally a cheap eats and hawker food kind of guy, but one thing we had to do while in New Zealand was try somewhere a bit more upmarket. It was getting towards the end of our trip and there weren't going to be too many more chances left so we headed for The Bantry Restaurant, Taupo.


The Bantry specialises in contemporary New Zealand cuisine. My understanding of what this actually means is limited but I think it's referring to a modern style of cooking based on Mediterranean and East Asian cooking techniques but local ingredients, similar to what which is often called International style in Melbourne. One thing which The Bantry shared with a number of places we visited was a beautiful garden setting. Outside dining was definitely the way to go with the sun out, with a choice between the wooden tables and benches or garden tables and chairs.


Ordering was either from a set three course menu, with (from memory) a choice of two entrees, mains and desserts, or from the normal menu. Hungry Pete went for the three course menu. First dish was the soup of the day, asparagus. While it looked creamy and was a generous serve, Pete felt it was lacking a bit in flavour.


Next was the sirloin steak (medium rare of course). Served with a mashed potato cake and seasonal vegetables, Hungry Pete rated it as above average but not outstanding.


Dessert was the apple and cinnamon turnover. This was the simplest in presentation of the dishes but his favourite on the night.


I decided to go with mains and dessert off the a la carte menu. In a nice touch a complementary appetiser was brought out for me at the same time as Pete's soup. Unfortunately I neglected to note what it was and it was a while ago now, but I do remember thinking it looked good and tasted quite nice.


My choice of mains was the venison with cauliflower cream, radiccio and blackberry jus. Presentation wise I liked the look of the dish when it hit the table, with a sprig of fern to give it that kiwi touch. The vegetables were still nicely firm but I'm not sure about the radiccio. It's a personal thing but this vegetable (I think) has a slightly bitter taste, and while I love sour I'm not a huge fan of bitter. The venison was nicely pink and tender but not quite as good as some of the amazing examples I remember having on the South Island a few years back (I still dream about that venison).


I ordered the lemon tart as dessert, one of my favourites. While a little pricey it was a good tart, nice and tart with the pastry properly crisp.


Overall
Good food at a reasonable price in a very pleasant garden setting. Service was undoubtedly the best of anywhere we ate in New Zealand. If you are in the area and looking for something other than the normal fast or pub style meals The Bantry would be a good choice.

Address
45 Rifle Range Road
Taupo New Zealand
Tel: (07) 378 0484

Kade 4, Rotterdam by Bureaucrat

After storming out of the craptacular dining experience at Mooii, we walked a short distance to a group of restaurants.


After inspecting the menus, we decided on Kade 4 (Quay 4) - and what a good choice it was. Without much ado, we ordered drinks, an entree to share and our mains.


Entree was bitterballen - delightful round nibbles. Deep fried potato that has a lovely crunchy outer with a gooey inner. The inside is mash potatoes with some mince beef. Very morish and definitely goes well with a drink or two.


The Lawyer ordered the red fish with lobster sauce. He really liked it. The fish was served with this ratatouille-like side veg that had capsicum, zuchinni, onions and a few other vegs sans the tomato-based sauce.


I had the sole with tarragon butter. Lightly pan fried and a good size serve. As with the red fish, it was also servied with the tatouille-ish veg.


The dishes also came with some proper side dishes - a fresh green salad and round pomme frites. Yum.

Overall
K4 is a nice pub that does a pretty good meal. Prompt and friendly service, good food and drinks - what more do you need? I'd imagine that in summer this place, with its location by the docks, would be quite popular.

Address
Kade 4
Spaansekade 4
3011 Rotterdam
Telephone: 010 270 9001