El Cafe D'en Victor

Restaurant El Cafe D'en Victor
Tapineria 12
Barcelona
Spain

Phone 93 310 2872

Overview

One particularly fine and warm evening in Barcelona Eva and I decided to dine alfresco, and descended upon El Cafe D'en Victor.

El Cafe D'en Victor is a restaurant with outside terrace, near the old town.

El Cafe D'en Victor serves a mixture of traditional Spanish dishes and Tapas, using local ingredients.

Ambience

El Cafe D'en Victor is a pleasant lively restaurant near the old town. The outside area, where we sat, was busy but we were able to find a table that afforded us a decent view without being "plonked" in the middle of the passing tourists or wandering musicians.

Menu

The menu provided a good selection of Spanish dishes ranging from Tapas to main courses of meat, fish and paella.

Service

The service was very friendly, good humoured, efficient and courteous.

Food

I started with the Gazpacho soup. This was a most excellent dish, chilled to perfection, it was generous in portion and in body. The taste of tomatoes was stimulating but not overbearing.

Eva started with a tortilla potatas (potato omelet), which was firm and well stuffed with potato. The taste and texture was just right.

We accompanied our starters with bread rubbed with tomatoes, garlic and drizzled in olive oil.

We both chose paella for our main courses. I had the chicken paella and Eva the fish.

My paella was absolutely first class, a very generous portion served in an iron paella pan. There was a more than ample portion of tender chicken pieces in the rice, which itself was cooked in chicken stock and was unctuous and delightfully claggy.

I was thoroughly delighted with my choice.

Eva's seafood paella was equally good, again served in an iron paella pan. The rice had been cooked in a seafood stock that was flavoursome, but not overpowering. The paella itself contained a variety of fish; prawns, squid, mussels etc.

An excellent meal!

The meal, which included a bottle of local wine, came to 68Euros.

Overall Opinion

A very pleasant meal and restaurant, it is ideal for lunch or dinner alfresco.

Restaurant Ria De Vigo

Restaurant Ria De Vigo
Sevilla 84
Barcelona
Spain

Phone 932 215 131

Overview

Eva and I were recently in Barcelona on a well deserved holiday. We decided to pop into Rio De Vigo, one of the numerous restaurants/cafes that are by the sea at Platja de Sant Miquel, for lunch.

It was a glorious sunny day, and we decided to sit at a table outside under one of the sun umbrellas.

Rio De Vigo serves a mixture of seafood and meat dishes, using local ingredients.

Ambience

Rio de Vigo is a pleasant restaurant near the seafront. The outside area, where we sat, was clean fresh and well shaded by the umbrellas. Although it was busy, the tables were not packed together too closely to make it feel unpleasant.

Menu

The menu provided an excellent selection of seafood and meat dishes including; the obligatory paella (in various guises), locally caught fish, steaks and pasta.

Service

The service was very friendly, efficient and courteous.

Food

I started with green peppers fried in olive oil and generously salted with sea salt. A most excellent dish, piquant and flavoursome.

I chose a sirloin steak for my main course, garnished with peppers and fires. The meat was of good quality, tender and had a decent layer of fat.

I have no complaints at all.

Eva started with fried prawns. This was a most excellent starter, consisting of a generous plateful of prawns in their shells that had been dipped in flour then fried in olive oil. The taste was piquant and fresh.

Eva then chose the veal escalope for her main course. This was covered in bread crumbs and fried, and garnished with fries and a salad. It was a reasonable effort, not the best that I have seen (as the meat was a little darker and drier than I would prefer); however, it was perfectly adequate.

The meal, which included a jug of Cava Sangria, a beer and two Irish coffees (well, it was our last day!), came to 88Euros.

Overall Opinion

A perfectly decent and fun seaside restaurant, worth visiting on a hot day.

Barcelona

Barcelona

Eva and I have just returned from a most excellent and enjoyable holiday in Barcelona, where we tried out some more superb local restaurants.

We also had time to pop into a couple of old haunts, and are happy to say that they were as good as before.

el Yantar de la ribera, which specialises in oven roast baby lamb, was again absolutely superb; we had a sumptuous meal of peppers, sausages and lamb (wine, food and liqueurs came to 105Euros).

Mi Burrito y Yo (My Donkey and I), a charming and lively steak house, was also a pleasure to revisit. We had a lovely meal of tortilla, soup, succulent barbecued chicken and barbecued pork; including wine, this came to 78Euros.

I will update the site with details of the other restaurants that we visited over the coming days.

Food Safe For Olympics

Food Safe For Olympics

China has reassured prospective visitors and athletes to next year's Olympics, that the food is safe and that they should not be concerned by recent Chinese food scandals; as many safety measures are being put in place for the Games.

China's food inspectors announced last week that a six-month crackdown had uncovered industrial oils, acid, cancer-causing chemicals and other dangerous ingredients in thousands of everyday foods sold domestically.

Beijing State Administration for Industry and Commerce said that dangers do exist, but it is taking extensive measures to ensure quality and safety in 2008.

Round-the-clock guards will be on duty in Olympic kitchens, food storage areas will be under video surveillance and food transport vehicles will be fitted with global positioning systems.

White mice will also be used to test food to be consumed by the athletes.

Rotten Carrots

Rotten Carrots

Commiserations to Prince Charles, champion of organic farming, who has had his carrots rejected by Sainsbury's as they were deemed to be "rotten".

Sainsbury's also rejected carrots supplied by the head of the Soil Association, Patrick Holden.

Sainsbury's stated that the crop was rotten, because it had been kept in a cold storage centre since being harvested last year. A spokeswoman said:

"They put the carrots in cold storage near their farms, where they suffered rapid deterioration and as a result we have had to reject the remainder of the crop."

Mr Holden said his carrots were sent by truck from his farm in Wales to a packing plant in Peterborough. He said the "quality issues" were "at least in part caused by transport".

"The truth is, if you buy your carrots in Sainsbury's, they will only come from this one pack house in Peterborough.

I haven't got anything in for Sainsbury's. My issue is that all supermarkets have adopted this policy of centralisation of supply."

The Taste of London

The Taste of London

The Taste of London kicked off yesterday, in Regent's Park, and will run until 24th of June.

The festival hosts 50 of London's top chefs and restaurants.

The Times Chefs' Theatre exhibits some of the UK's most famous chefs in action.

The Speciality Beer Masterclass hosts a selection of the world's finest speciality beers.

The Wine Experience offers a daily programme of wine tastings and tutorials. Leading wine connoisseurs from around the world host tutorials and give advice on pairing wine with food.

River Cottage will have its own marquee, with appearances by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

There will also be the opportunity to sample and buy authentic local produce from a selection of the producers of food and drink from London and the South East.

The Taste will also be held in Bath and Birmingham, on 28th June-1st July and 5th July-8th July respectively.

Organic Food Costs To Rise

Organic Food Costs To Rise

Those of you who have a liking for organic food, may find their food bills rising in the near term.

EU ministers have agreed that food accidentally contaminated with up to 0.9% GM content can still be labelled "GM free".

However, the UK's organic organisations and "purists" have promised to maintain their higher standard of 0.1% of GM content.

Promises, though, cost money.

Needless to say the extra cost will not be borne by the producers, or campaigners, but by the consumers.

The Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers say that farmers and growers could incur extra costs, as they seek to protect their crops from cross contamination.

These extra costs will naturally be passed on to consumers.

The organic "purists" are unrepentant, they claim that the 0.1% threshold is in line with what customers want.

Personally speaking I actively avoid anything labelled "organic", as I have no doubt that we are being "sold a pup" with this fad.

Fake Off!

Fake Off!

Gordon Ramsay has been accused of faking scenes for the American version of his show, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (where the "F" word is used more liberally than MSG in a down market Chinese restaurant).

The former restaurant manager, Martin Hyde, of Dillons an Indian restaurant in Manhattan has taken legal action against Ramsay.

Hyde is seeking to stop an episode of the series being aired, on the basis that Ramsay humiliated Hyde and exaggerated conditions at Dillons.

Hyde claims that Ramsay fabricated scenes for the episode featuring his business.

Hyde alleges that Ramsay falsely suggested that meat was spoiled and hired actors to pose as customers, so that it would appear the venue was busier after he intervened in its operations.

A spokesman for Ramsay has declined to comment on the lawsuit, which he said he had not yet seen, but in reference to the claims told the Associated Press:

"It is a reality show and as far as I know it's not something they do."

Those who seek free publicity for their restaurants, by bringing in Ramsay, should be well aware that the purpose of the show is to highlight failures and to show a turnaround after Ramsay has been called in.

What did Hyde think would happen?

Pay What You Like

Pay What You Like

The White Horse in Epsom is trying a rather innovative experiment with its gastro cuisine. Every Thursday and Friday evening, in June, the pub allows its patrons to pay what they think that the meal is worth.

Landlord, Stuart Down, said:

"There are no catches.

Customers are leaving exactly what they think their meal was worth. So far it has been very successful and has certainly captured people's imaginations.

What is so exciting about it from my point of view is the feedback we're getting knowing what your customers think is extremely useful.

No one has walked out without paying anything yet, though I'm sure someone will. In fact a lot of people have actually left more than they would have been charged."

As a rough guide, the mark up that a well run restaurant or food outlet should charge in order to make a respectable (not greedy profit) is about 3-4 times the cost of the food.

It would be a very interesting idea indeed, to see some of London's more over priced and pretentious restaurants try this experiment; they might learn some humility.

Smoke Detector

Smoke Detector

Those of you who are thinking of having a crafty fag break, in the toilets or a darkened corner of a restaurant or pub, when the no smoking ban comes into force in England in July may have to think again.

Restaurants and bars throughout England have been installing a hypersensitive talking alarm, which will catch the errant smokers out.. A pre-programmed voice message will tell the culprit:

"This is a no-smoking area, please extinguish your cigarette, a member of staff has been contacted."

Seemingly, the Cig-Arrete alarms can detect the slightest traces of tobacco smoke or the flame from a match or lighter; they will be used in hidden areas such as toilets and stairwells.

Thousands of the anti-smoking kits have been supplied to pubs and restaurants in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where the ban has already come into effect.

The devices are made by Radal Technology, based in Burnley, Lancashire.

The alarms can be adjusted to deliver the voice message in any language or regional accent.

The restaurants installing them are more concerned about being fiend £2500 for inadvertently allowing smoking on the premises, rather than displaying concern for diners health.

The Toby Carvery and Bar Croydon

The Toby Carvery and Bar Croydon

I popped into the Toby Carvery and Bar in Croydon for a drink yesterday afternoon, on my way to the dentist, and have the following observations/recommendations:

1 The first glass I was served my gin in had not been washed properly, and smelt/tasted of aniseed.

Glasses should be properly washed.

2 All four soap dispensers in the gents were empty.

These should be monitored and refilled on a regular basis.

3 The floor in the gents was semi flooded.

This should have been mopped up immediately, and not left for customers to wade through.

Sharpen up!

Chinese Food Scare

Chinese Food Scare

Another food scare has hit the already badly dented reputation of Chinese food companies.

China's quality control watchdog found excessive amounts of preservatives in 13% of 46 chili products tested across the country recently.

The products came from 38 companies in 12 provinces and municipalities, including Beijing and Shanghai.

The administration also found that 8% of dried vegetables and dried fruits had failed safety tests, due mainly to excessive colour additives and the presence of sulphur dioxide.

China last month said it would tighten up inspections nationwide after a number of dangerous food products was found in domestic and export markets.

In one of the highest-profile cases, pet food contaminated by additives originating in China is suspected of killing thousands of dogs and cats in the United States.

Like Father Like Son

Like Father Like Son

It would appear that, when it comes to high level summits, George W Bush has the same delicate stomach as his father.

The Times reports that Bush has fallen ill, with a stomach disorder, at the GB summit in Germany.

Given that none of the other guests have reportedly keeled over, it is reasonable to assume that it was not the food served at Heiligendamm.

Given that the next in line to office is Cheney, I wish Bush a very very speedy recovery.

Food Fight Frenzy

Food Fight Frenzy



It seems that a US high school food fight got a tad out of hand last Thursday, in scenes resembling a Laurel and Hardy movie police had to be called and an officer was injured.

At least 200 students were in West Aurora High School's cafeteria when french fries, milk, sandwiches and pizza slices were hurled in a food fight frenzy.

Zach Little, a student, said:

"It was just insane..Things like milk cartons, full pop bottles and blue slushies were flying around. Kids literally bought the food to throw it and, to me, that's a little expensive."

The alleged instigator, Demetrius Oglesby faces a felony charge of resisting arrest after authorities said he ran from a police officer. The officer tripped over another student, who had fallen during the food fight, breaking his foot. A school official also suffered minor injuries.

Two juveniles also face misdemeanor charges from the incident, including a 15-year-old charged with mob action and disorderly conduct and a 14-year-old charged with assault.

Seemingly the event was preplanned, as students had said that rumours about the food fight had been circulating throughout the 3,000 student school all week as a senior prank.

Letting off steam is what students do. However, given the number of starving people in the world wasting food in this manner just seems to be in very poor taste.

Patak's Sold

Patak's Sold

Patak's, Britain's best-known Indian food brand, is being sold by its founding family (the Pathaks) for over £100M to Associated British Foods, whose brands include; Sunblest bread, Silver Spoon sugar, Twinings tea and Ovaltine.

Patak's is run by husband and wife team Kirit and Meena Pathak, the "h" in the family name was dropped to make it easier for the English to pronounce.

Patak's was founded in 1957 by Kirit's father, Laxmishanker, who came to Britain in the 1950s as a refugee from Kenya, with his wife and six children. He started with just £5 in his pocket when he arrived in the country.

The business supplies approximately 75% of the 8,000 Indian restaurants in Britain. It also sells curry paste, pappadums, chapattis and cooking sauces through the major supermarket chains and exports to around 40 countries.

Mr Pathak will become chairman of the combined business of Patak's and Blue Dragon and wife Meena will also become a director.

The family is retaining the rights to the Patak brand in India.