The World's Saltiest Lasagne

The World's Saltiest Lasagne

Eva and I were in Brighton yesterday, and popped into Donatello for an end of day pizza and pasta.

There, I had what I can only describe as the world's saltiest lasagne.

Message to the chef...way too much salt in your lasagne.

Ixxy's Hot Salt Beef Bagel

Ixxy's Hot Salt Beef Bagel

Those of you who fancy a nice hot salt beef bagel, whilst waiting for your train at London's Victoria station, should not bother buying one from Ixxy's Bagel Shop (owned by the Compass Group).

I tried one yesterday:

- The beef was reheated in a microwave, instead of being cut from a joint

- The beef was luke warm and bland, instead of being hot and tasty

- Ixxy's advertise that the hot beef bagel comes with mustard; I had to remind the girl behind the counter to put mustard in, after she had made the bagel. Thus she had to disassemble the bagel

- The bagel itself was dry

- The counter girl forgot the use of the phrases "please" and "thank you", and indeed how to smile

- The cost of this gastronomic disappointment, together with a can of fizzy sugared water, came to £5.99

Bottom line: if you want a tasty hot salt beef bagel, that is good value for money, don't go to Ixxy's.

The World's Most Expensive Restaurants

The World's Most Expensive Restaurants

Forbes has put together a list of the world's most expensive restaurants.

Top of that list comes Aragawa, in Tokyo, where the average meal for one runs about ¥1,672 (approximately $277).

The list can be viewed on Forbes.

The question is though, are they value for money?

A Bad Start

A Bad Start

We all know that breakfast is meant to set you up for the day, and according to tradition the best start to the day is an English breakfast.

Unfortunately, those of you who stay in some of Britain's hotels may find their start to the day to be less than perfect.

That at least is the view according to the 2006 edition of The Good Hotel Guide of Great Britain and Ireland.

It claims that some guests have experienced "watery porridge and cold eggs," "toast with the texture of cardboard," as well as bad service and overpriced meals.

The best hotels for a good English breakfast appear to be small independent ones.

The guide in particular recommends Bark House Hotel in Bampton, southwest England; for its "superb" breakfast of, "moist muesli, exceptional porridge with honey and brown sugar, meaty Bampton bangers, tasty mushrooms, dry-cured bacon, free-range eggs, crisp fried bread."

Quote from the Bark House website:

"All meals are cooked by the proprietor, Alastair, who is a largely self-taught cook. Strong emphasis is placed on sourcing produce from high-quality West Country suppliers. Most fish comes from Cornwall whilst meat comes from a handful of known local farms. Breakfasts are treated seriously, too..."

It definitely sounds like it is worth a visit.

Smoking U Turn

Smoking U Turn

Smoking is set to be completely banned throughout pubs and restaurants in England, after cabinet ministers decided to ask for a U-turn on plans for a partial ban.

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has caved in and let it be known that he will not block Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt's calls to overturn the current plans; under which smoking would be banned only in places where food is served.

Those of you who enjoy smoking after a meal, may have just a short time left to enjoy the last gasps of nicotine in public.

Pasties Go Mexican

Pasties Go Mexican

It seems that the traditional Cornish Pasty, once the staple diet of Cornish tin miners, has now become the staple diet of Mexican silver miners.

The pasty is now classified as a local delicacy, alongside tacos and beans.

There is of course a Mexican twist to the dish that normally contains meat, potatoes and swede; they have added a few chillis.

Those of you who wish to try out the Mexican version should go to Real del Monte in Mexico, where the pasty was first imported by Cornish tin miners in the 19th century.

Traditional Cornish Pasty Recipe

Cornish Pasties originated in Cornwall as a handy way for miners to take their lunch to work.

Shortcrust pastry encases a mixture of finely chopped meat and vegetables.

Ingredients

10 oz flour
A pinch of salt
4 oz of cold butter
1 to 3 tablespoons of water

8 oz of cubed beef
2 potatoes 1 swede/turnip
1 medium onion
salt & pepper
2 tablespoons of fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon of mustard
2 teaspoons of tomato sauce / ketchup (optional)
1 egg

Short Pastry

In a large bowl or food processor sift the flour and salt, cut the cold butter into small cubes and add to the flour.

Rub the butter into the flour with your hands or using the food processor, until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Make a well in the centre and add sufficient water to mix to a firm dough.

Handle as little as possible as this prevents the pastry from becoming hard when it is baked.

Roll into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Filling

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Put the cubed meat into a large bowl.

Chop the onion finely, and add to the meat.

Peel the potatoes and swede turnip, cut into very small cubes.

Mix thoroughly with the meat, add the seasonings (a little water may be added to moisten) and cover.

On a lightly floured bench or board roll the pastry out to around 1/8 inch thick.

Cut 6 rounds, using a 6 1/2 inch diameter plate as a guide.

Arrange the filling evenly in the centre of each round.

Lightly beat the egg and glaze the edge of each round with a pastry brush.

Lift the two opposite edges of the pastry and pull together over the filling.

Pinch at regular intervals along the edge to form a frill.

Brush each pasty with egg and place on a baking tray.

Bake for 3/4 to 1 hour.

Eat hot or cold.

Eating In, The New Eating Out

Eating In, The New Eating Out

A new dining fad appears to be coming to Britain.

Those with money to spend and a nice kitchen, but with no time or energy to cook, can now hire in top name chefs to do the work for them.

Jamie Oliver is the latest "name" to get on the "hire a chef" for home dining bandwagon. Although he is unlikely to ever turn up to your house himself, for a fee of around £80 per head, one of his chefs from his restaurant Fifteen will come and do the cooking for you.

"Fifteen to You" will offer such dishes as scallop crudo cured in lime.

Personally speaking, half the fun of dining is going out and enjoying the ambience of a restaurant.

When we invite friends round for dinner, we enjoy doing the cooking ourselves; to hire chefs in, just seems plain rude and lazy.

Big Bill

Big Bill

An unknown City banker spent £36K on drinks in the Aviva bar in the Baglioni Hotel, in Kensington last Thursday.

He was celebrating a £3M deal.

So were the staff, they received a £4.7K tip.

Curry Honour

Curry Honour

The mayor of Westminster, central London, unveiled a plaque yesterday on the wall of 102 George Street.

This was in honour of Indian businessman Sake Dean Mahomed, who set up Britain's first curry restaurant in 1810.

The Hindoostane Coffee House was said to sell food "unequalled to any curries ever made in England".

Mahomed was born in 1759, and came to Britain in 1784.

The restaurant went bankrupt in 1812.

Britain now has around 9,000 curry houses.

The Rib Room Revisited

The Rib Room Revisited

Eva, myself and our good friends David and Gabi dined at the Rib Room and Oyster Bar of the Carlton Tower Hotel on Saturday night.

Eva and I have been there before (see the review here), David and Gabi have not.

We are more than pleased to say that the food, service and ambience were every bit as good as on our first visit.

-Salmon, delicious.

-Duck, delicate and flavoursome.

-Beef, unctuous and magnificent.

-Trifle, huge.

-Chocolate cake, awesome.

A good time was had by all.

My compliments to the Rib Room, and my thanks to our friends who paid the bill!

Maggie Jones's Revisited

Maggie Jones's Revisited

Full marks to Maggie Jones's off Kensington Church Street London, for being consistently excellent when it comes to food, service and ambience.

Eva and I dined there last night, again, and had another splendid evening.

Leek and cheese tart and smoked salmon stuffed with crab were followed by roast duck and stuffed rolled pork.

Top marks!

Long may they continue.

Palm Beach Innovation

Palm Beach Innovation

Hats off to the authorities in Palm Beach.

Palm Beach County restaurants may soon be asked to put a notice on their menus, alerting diners that their latest health inspection reports are available on request.

That doesn't sound like a bad idea, why not implement it elsewhere around the world?

Most certainly, fast food establishments should be targeted.

Kidsbeer

Kidsbeer

Kidsbeer, a Japanese soft drink bottled and formulated to look like beer, may soon be hitting the supermarket shelves in Europe.

However, not surprisingly, watchdogs of underage drinking say they will fight it.

The drink comes in a brown bottle, and is advertised with the slogan "Even kids cannot stand life unless they have a drink".

It is the colour of lager, foams like beer but tastes like cola.

It sounds absolutely ghastly!

It was introduced in Japan two years ago, and is sold by more than 150 restaurants and supermarkets in Japan.

Tim Loughton MP said that the drink's expected arrival was "an alarming development."

BOGOFF

BOGOFF

For those of you unfamiliar with the expression, BOGOFF is short for "buy one, get one free".

This is frequently used by supermarkets and fast food chains, such as pizzarias, to market their products.

However, in Ohio, the use of this phrase has caused a legal despute between "Master Pizza" and "Pizza Pan".

"Master Pizza" has advertised many buy one, get one free specials. However, "Pizza Pan" restaurant chain are now disputing their right to use this phrase.

It seems that Pizza Pan has trademarked the slogan "Home of the Free Pizza" and, they say, the concept of buy one, get one free.

Now this dispute is heading for the Lorain County Common Pleas Court.

This phrase, as already noted, is widely used throughout the world.

I doubt that "Pizza Pan" have a leg to stand on.

Britain's Curry Crisis

Britain's Curry Crisis

Britain now has nearly 10,000 Indian restaurants, serving two million curry meals a week; having a "curry" is now a weekly tradition for many British families.

However, the growth of the "curry" industry in Britain now faces a threat from a shortage of labour.

The 10,000 curry restaurants in Britain require 20,000 chefs and 40,000 helpers, as a minimum. Unfortunately, these requirements are proving to be too much for restaurants which are struggling to recruit trained/experienced chefs and assistants.

Immigration policies have been toughened up in the last few decades, and the recent terrorist bombings have made immigration authorities reluctant to give out new work permits or renew existing ones.

Such is the crisis that the Guild of Bangladeshi Restaurateurs, which represents 2000 South Asian restaurants, has appealed to Home Secretary to relax immigration rules.

Namita Punjabi, owner of the Chelsea-based Chutney Mary Anglo-Indian restaurant, is reported to have said:

"It is very difficult to get good cooks. We normally just can't find them in this country. And remember that India is the size of Europe. Each area has its own specific types of food. As a company, we can't look for talent in Britain it just doesn't exist."

It may be that the traditional "curry" house will have to start increasing prices, in order to stem demand.