nil desperandum

Top Chap

Today, I had tea with an extremely nice bloke called Simon Waldman. Simon is the Director of Digital Publishing of the Guardian Media Group. Simon has quite a plush office but he's not one who's afraid of getting muck in with the ol' Web 2.0. He showed me stuff like Devon Technologies which is a cool bit of kit to grab stuff of the tinternet and available for search, Google-style at a later stage.

Anyway, the chat I had wasn't so much about the Guardy - it was more about the web, how Simon sees the media landscape changing and his favourite businesses and restaurants.

I'll be in Paris this weekend. I'll try to get a connection and upload the interview. Here's a pic of this very lovely chap - and a loving husband and father I might add. Thank you Simon.

Hmm...Pizza

The best Pizza in London can be found on Drury Lane. Delicious freshly baked pizzas for 4 swills. I get overly excited about the pizzas and never cared to find out the name of the restaurant/cafe - I will find out I promise. It's just up from The New Theatre, where they're showing the Blue Man Group. There's a A-board outside on the pavement saying "4pound pizzas"

Lovely. 4 out of 5. Here's me enjoying the pizza.

Dim Sum Appreciation Society

Hello. Today was the unofficial inauguration of the London Dim Sum Appreciation Society. The founding members are: Pook, Jenny, Eau, Mark, Nat, Nazli, Lea and Me. We went to Imperial China on Lisle Street in China Town. We've been there once before and liked it. the food is ok, the setting is less cramped and chaotic as the other establishment in China Town and it's cheap. There were nine of us and the bill came to 80 swills including service! So all in all 3/5.

Here are the lovely peeps present today.




Wonderful. The next meet will be in a fortnight's time.

Restaurant Review: Pho Cafe

This entry is actually long over-dued. As some of you know my work is actually quite demanding and stressful at times. One of the way I cope with stress is through dining; I like to leave the office, get some space and feed my belly. As trendy as EC1 may be there aren't actually that many comfort food venues - there are many fancy restaurants and bars, but nothing to soothe the soul. Fortunately, there's Pho Cafe (does any one know if they have a proper website?). As by its many Pho Cafe serves up amazing Pho (which should actually be pronounced as "Phuur" - which is like a soft, flat, squidgy noodle made from rice flour. It's served with a lovely broth (vegetarian options available) and also a side of herbs/vegetables which gives the dish another dimension, and makes everything lovely and fragrant. Apart from Pho they also serve Bun which is a lighter, even fresher alternative served with a lovely dressing. Here are some pics of Thila enjoying some pho.

I really love going to Pho. Food is always good and staff clearly love what they're doing. Pho Cafe can be found here. Rating: 4/5

Restaurant Review: Benihana

Yesterday afternoon, I took my beloved Thila out for lunch at Benihana just off the Piccadilly. I was recommended to this restaurant by my friend Pat some time ago. Thila and I walked up to the restaurant and looked at the menu from the outside and it looked fantastic. The chef's special included Selected and aged Scottish sirloin steak and tender chicken prepared, cooked and served on the Hibachi table and the fish variant was equally promising, "Fresh, sashimi grade Tuna". And by the time we sat down we knew exactly that was what we were going to have. That was the beginning of our nightmare

A fresh-faced Hibachi chef arrived at our table and started cooking the fried rice!?!? Those of you who are familiar with Teppanyaki will know that rice is ALWAYS served last. Our chef, whom will remain annoymous, poured soya sauce over everything he cooked. Soya sauce burns easily on a hot pan and, bless him, he burnt practically everything he cooked for us including the scallops and asparagus we ordered on the side! At which point, I thought fine, I'll just have my rice and wait for the Tuna to come. I prefer my tuna steak medium rare, but when I saw the tuna arrived with frost on the top and edges cooked, I asked the chef to cook it right through to avoid food poisoning.

I do quite a bit of cooking at home, enough to recognise that the tuna had come defrosted from the microwave. What annoyed me equally as much was the fact that the chef's knife wasn't very sharp so he ended up hacking our tuna into pieces as above. Lunch for two without wine cost around GBP60. Needless to say I left no tips. Thoroughly disappointed. Rating: 1/5