quieteating
quiet eating
travels in search of quiet eating
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Arnabeet
I was recently accused of being unadventurous.
I think that is a fairly accurate characterization. As I grow older (and fatter and slower), I see consequences in many of my actions. Whether it be that impulse purchase of particularly adventurous clothing, that rather exhilarating experience dangling 1000s of feet off the side of the cliff in Norway or that fateful day in the French alps, I…
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Fishermen's trail - Portugal
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Hiden Curry
As I get older, there are less excuses for my stupidity.
Not too long ago (age also brings on delusion), an excuse when I did something especially moronic, would be excused with a quick “he is young, he will learn”. When instead it was even more gobsmackingly lacking in sense, imbecility could perhaps be passed off on the basis that “he is experiencing a novel experience”. Yet, when it was…
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Hoppers Marlyebone
It is amazing what restaurants will charge you for these days. Maybe they have heard a bit too much of how Ryanair was thinking about charging for use of the toilets. Which seemed rather counterproductive to me, if you didn’t have the cash to pay for a “deposit” in a cubicle, would you just do it in your seat? Surely that would cost more to clean up than the toilet fee. Although perhaps we…
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Orient
There comes a time in every blogger’s life when they have to confront a harsh truth.
Their dearly held prejudices are blinkered, unreasonable and plain wrong. So this was how I was frogged marched to a Chinatown eatery, where I previously would loudly proclaim that is where you go if you don’t know what real Cantonese food is like. To add insult to injury, eating in some place called Orient…
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#bo lou bao#char siu bao#custard bun#egg tart#fujian fried rice#har cheung fun#har gao#jia loong cheung fun#mushroom dumpling#siu mai#xia loong bao
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Tamil Crown
In these cold dark days (London is like that in winter), sometimes I feel a need of some warmth.
Which is how I ended up at Tamil Crown, a place offering South Eastern fire. Located in an old pub, its credentials in the spicy department were unsubtle. Heavily advertised as having Roti King pedigree, I had high hopes. So long as we can forget Gopals…
Table ornament. The reminders of the fire…
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Kolae
Kolae has opened where the Neal’s Yard cheese warehouse used to be, right next to Monmouth coffee. It is a good location.
The crowded downstairs. A bit narrow on the way in, it is bustling just like my mind (unfortunately).
Upstairs, the cosy feel continues, with narrow (but tasteful) wooden walkways and booth seating on the sides.
The placing. Modern and classy settings matched well with…
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Niu
Seems like there is a recent Eastern noodle craze in London. First there was the ramen joints (Ippudo, Tonkotsu, Kanda-Ya), then udon (Ichi-richi), then Xian (Biang, Biang Biang and Master Wei) and now Taiwanese noodles.
I like noodles as much as the other guy but not as much as some of my friends. One in particular always yells for soup noodles at every occasion. That gets rather tiring after a while. Either that, or as I get older I get more boring and testy.
In any case, when a Taiwanese noodle shop called “Niu” came along, I couldn’t help but be interested. That is a rather short name for a restaurant and reminded me of what a friend told me was the secret to writing engaging prose.
KISS. Keep it simple stupid.
Well that at least is sound advice when writing in an occupational context. The advantage of writing for a hobby is that you can do whatever you like. I can indulge my use of flamboyant, redundant and confusing language to my heart’s content. However, I have been strongly advised that the way to get greater publicity nowadays is to follow the rules as attention spans these days are anemic. As well as an appreciation of sophisticated scarcely utilized language.
So this is Niu, otherwise known as Cow. That is the literal translation from Mandarin. An apt name as there are only two mains on the menu. Beef noodle and beef noodle.
Taiwanese beef noodles, beef shin, mustard greens. Deep, flavourful beef broth, I couldn’t help but slurp this up in isolation. At first I thought there was no need for toppings. As for the noodles, these were meaty and pleasantly full of bite. Yet it was the beef shin that was the best. With large helpings of collagen (to better help with preserving my youthful looks), I was delighted. The mustard greens and spring onions only made things better.
Beef short rib noodles. With the same broth and noodles, these were also not bad, although the beef was sliced more thinly, so going for a different style. I personally prefer the large slabs of beef but others may prefer more delicate pieces. Speaking more about the noodles here, these had shape and bite and were rather good. The other ingredients except the beef cut was the same as the other noodle soup. So I would say it was decent but costing a pretty penny.
Niu had quite a bit going for it. Delicious noodles, meaty broth. Enough beef taste that you could almost see the cow staring back at you from the soup. Yet what lets it down was the rather full price. I’m sure cows are more expensive now but not really that much…
A quieteating 7/10.
Lunch (1 course) was GBP16 excluding drinks and service.
@niu_taiwanese_beef_noodles
19 Catherine St,
London WC2B 5JS
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Mexico - birds
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#bird photography#birds#black vulture#canivet&039;s emrald#flycatcher#grassquit#great kiskadee#Hummingbird#mot mot#motmot#olivaceous woodcreeper#pygmy owl#Red Cardinal#rose-throaded becard#woodcreeper#woodpecker#yucatan jay#yucatan woodpecker
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Mexico - birds
Pygmy Owl – hello there
Buff-bellied Hummingbird looking into the tree
Social flycatcher
Buff-bellied Hummingbird leaving
Flycatcher
Yucatan woodpecker
Black vulture
Flycatcher
Buff-bellied Hummingbird looking longingly into the distance
Canivet’s emerald
Great kiskadee
Yellow-faced grassquit
Buff-bellied Hummingbird looking longingly into the distance
Mot mot
Yucatan jay – a bad hair day
Olivaceous woodcreeper
Rose-throated becard
Buff-bellied Hummingbird looking longingly into the distance
Red cardinal – the angry bird
#bird photography#birds#black vulture#canivet's emrald#flycatcher#grassquit#great kiskadee#Hummingbird#mot mot#motmot#olivaceous woodcreeper#pygmy owl#Red Cardinal#rose-throaded becard#woodcreeper#woodpecker#yucatan jay#yucatan woodpecker
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Mexico - food
Hot chocolate
Churros
Tortilla
Black mole chicken
Palm salad
Tacos with tuna
Tuna avocado taco
Tacos
Angel hair pasta with seafood
Sea bream ceviche
Octopus salad
Fig tart
Apple struddle
Chicken, sausage and steak tacos
Tortilla
Chicken cheese tortilla
Chicken taco
Lime, sour and hot sauce
Soft shell crab tacos
Chocolate and biscuit
Cured cactus salad
Tamales with cacao bean masa with pinole sauce.
Tamales filled and bathed with different moles.
#angel hair pasta#apple struddle#ceviche#chocolate#churros#fig tart#mole#octopus salad#palm#tacos#tamales#tortilla#tuna
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Mexico - sights
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Mexico - sights
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Chapultepec castle gardens
Chapultepe castle
Skyscrappers
An angry man
A small man
A big man
A boogey man
A family
Teotihuacan
Sitio Arqueológico de Teotihuacán
Plaza del Sol
Calz de los Muertos
Piramide de la Luna
Piramide del Sol
Piramide del Sol
Piramide del Sol
Puerto Morelos – Five Oceans hotel
Seaside
Coba
Ancient basketball
Chitzen Izta
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Manteca
I am by nature a taciturn man. I find loud noises annoying, the burp of cars irritating and the barking of small dogs at times surprising. I generally look to go to restaurants where this isn’t a problem. But this was not the case here. Lunch was so loud that I couldn’t hear myself think.
While I do not usually hold my thoughts in particularly high esteem (so nothing much is lost) in this case…
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Manteca
I am by nature a taciturn man. I find loud noises annoying, the burp of cars irritating and the barking of small dogs at times surprising. I generally look to go to restaurants where this isn’t a problem. But this was not the case here. Lunch was so loud that I couldn’t hear myself think.
While I do not usually hold my thoughts in particularly high esteem (so nothing much is lost) in this case the decibel level was so extreme that I found myself scrunching up my ears (and mouth) to try and minimize the impact. Screwing up my mouth did impact the taste of things somewhat.
Then again, perhaps they have got something right as they seemed rather busy. Well at least that’s what I am trying to give them the doubt of. When we sat down we were told that the concept of the restaurant was that “the food came as it came”. I.e. they had little kitchen control so couldn’t manage the timing of the food like a normal restaurant and that showed with the extreme tardiness of most of our dishes. Although being somewhat inept was not something isolated just to the kitchen as the waiters managed to deliver the wrong food to our table three times.
This is the rather nice looking upstairs. I was excited as I enjoy light filled venues. Better for photos. Unfortunately, we were exiled to the basement which was cramped, dark, stuffy and extremely loud. Must have been something on my face.
Wildfarmed focaccia, rosemary. As a starter, this was ok. Nothing special though and it seemed somewhat arbitrary how many pieces of bread you got when you ordered. Well, that is what I am using to justify what would otherwise be blatant discrimination as other tables got four servings of bread.
Fried ciccioli, apple mostarda. Crunchy and fulsome. Deep umami porky taste, this was rather nice if a little small. Appeared 15 minutes after ordering. This was to be a theme throughout the meal, delays like the tube.
Strozzapreti, brown crab cacio e pepe. First the good, the pasta was nicely cooked al dante. However, I wonder if more than a teaspoon of crab meat went into this dish, as it seems suspiciously crabless. I would think that if you were stingy on the more expensive ingredients, the least you could do was try and provide enough grains to make up for that lack.
This was not the case as there was probably 50g of pasta spread around. This rather meagre portion together with the lack of substance put me in a crabby mood. Especially as this arrived 30 minutes after ordering. Maybe they were out crab hunting.
Malloreddus. Cooked a rather long time, the limp and too soft pasta was lifted up a bit by uninspired mince meat and cheese mix. As you can see by the photo, this was also a minuscule portion. We are talking about 1/4 of the usual size here. Even smaller than the first dish. Rather heavily over salted too. The pasta (what little we had) was good though. It arrived at the 40 minute mark in a haphazard manner much like the waiting service.
Nduja steamed mussels, cream, parsley. Juicy, succulent with rich sauce. There was a single rather small slice of fried bread at the bottom to soak up the sauce. The miserly portions were becoming a bit much. We had ordered this in the middle of our meal as we realised that the pasta portion sizes would leave us hungry (and grumpy) at the end.
Wood roasted plaice. Decent but nothing special. Could have done this myself as it seemed that it had just been roasted with minimal seasoning caveman style. Then again, at this stage of the meal, I was just looking round for th
Crispy potatoes, salumi brown butter. Crispy, tasty and fluffy inside. These were decent but these took over an hour to come. With that in mind, it wasn’t really worth the wait.
There is a method of giving appraisals, called the sandwich method. You give good feedback, then improvement points and then finally end on a positive note. It also has attained some rather less polite monikors which are better not mentioned in the context of food. Applying this to this restaurant, the taste of some of the dishes was decent, the upstairs dining room had a rather pleasing atmosphere. As for feedback, the food was rather minimal in portion, scrimping on elements that would have made their food somewhat decent. To add insult to injury, the pricing was also rather high for what you got.
Trying to think of a positive point to end on, sandwich appraisal style, at least we got our food in the end. Even if we did have to wait an inordinate amount of time. To counter that, we also amused ourselves watching the hapless antics of the waiters as they delivered the wrong food to the wrong table (again). Unfortunately, this entertainment was somewhat curtailed as I couldn’t hear the angry responses from just 2 metres away as it was almost too loud to think.
A quiet eating 4/10.
Lunch (1.5 course equivalent) was GBP 27 per person excluding service.
Manteca
49-51 Curtain Road,
London EC2A 3PT
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Marrakesh
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#bags#bazaar#breakfast#camels#horse drawn carraiges#imil#Marrakesh#morocco#ottoman#quranschool#slippers#souks#spices
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Marrakesh
Jemaa el-Fnaa
Getting on a camel
The camel
Taking a selfie
Posing for someone else’s photo
Imil
Souk
Another souk
Outside souk
Closer look
Ottomans
Art
Light art
Many many colours
Parking on the pavement, horse style
Down a narrow lane
Street art
Spice merchant
A crowded souk
A spice shop
A quick way around
An oasis of calm, our riad
Knick knack shop
And yet more seemed like all you did here was shop
Eggplant sandwich
The Quran school
A bag shop
A shoe shop
Breakfast on the last day
#bags#bazaar#breakfast#camels#horse drawn carraiges#imil#Marrakesh#morocco#ottoman#quranschool#slippers#souks#spices
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