The Steak Off! Sophie's vs Gaucho

I have eaten a few steaks of late. Unfortunately, none of these have come from the Hawksmoor. Having tried to secure a booking this week and failing miserably, I had to settle for a visit to Gaucho on Swallow Street to satisfy my craving for a lump of red meat. Having been to Sophie's in Covent Garden recently, and failed to blog it, I thought I would pit them mano a mano in a steak off!

Now I'm going to compare them in the six S's. These will be Surroundings, Starters, Steaks, Sides, Service and Size-of-the-bill.

Surroundings - Sophie's is located in a pretty busy part of Covent Garden, right next to the Lyceum theatre so is bustling with the theatre crowd. The restaurant is dimly lit but a decent airy space with pretty interesting lighting (think lots of light bulbs hanging off the air-conditioning). I had a pretty early dinner here but it was packed with the pre-theatre crowd.

Gaucho was also busy but the decor is frankly a bit off putting. Think dead cows hanging off the walls, everywhere. In fact, I dare you to find an area within the restaurant which doesn't have cow print. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there was cow print in the kitchen. Split over 4 floors, it is dark, bordering on the pitch black in areas. All in all, the actual dining room is a pleasant space, with different levels keeping it interesting.

I like Sophie's. There is only so much cow print a man can take.

Starters (or freebies) - Sophie's gives you meat. Strips of salami which is definitely more-ish. They taste nice. Gaucho give you bread. Now normally meat trumps bread any day of the week. But this bread comes with this awesome salsa (sweet vinegary goodness) and the best cheese balls this side of Brazil. Gaucho wins the battle of the freebies hands down.

Steaks - I've had a few steaks from both establishments, varying from the sirloin to the rump. Gaucho's steaks claim to be Argentinean whilst Sophie's are British. I must admit, I have enjoyed steaks from both, and both come with pretty decent Béarnaise. However, the vote goes to Gaucho. The last steak I had there, a juicy bit of sirloin was perfectly done and tasted great. Only downside was that they are very tight on the Béarnaise.



Sides - I've only had the chips and the salad from Sophie's. The salad was more like coleslaw, which is no bad thing. The chips were alright, nothing special. At Gaucho, I had the mash and a spinach and baconconcoction. Again, nothing wrong with these but nothing outstanding, the spinach was a little salty. No real stand out performers so no winners, it's a tie.

Service - This one is easy. I was made very welcome at Sophie's and the staff were very attentive. The service was also excellent at Gaucho. But, and it's a massive but, I was felt that I was constantly being hurried by the team at Gaucho. I was 10 minutes late and was hurried to my table. I hadn't received my drink and they were hurrying me to order. I was still eating my food and they were already cleaning the plates off the table. I wanted a coffee when a bill arrived on my table. Turning over tables is key at Gaucho but if I'm spending a decent bit of cash on a meal, I do not want to be rushed. Round goes to Sophie's.

Size-of-the-Bill - Now good steaks don't come cheap. I enjoyed my meals at both Sophie's and Gaucho and if you order off the main menu, it's certainly going to set you back a few bob. The steaks themselves are fairly reasonable, but it's the sides which add to the cost. This is where Sophie's comes into its own. There is no set or express menu at Gaucho whereas Sophie's has a very reasonable pre-theatre menu. Any time before 7.30, its £12.50 for two courses which includes a decent sized rib-eye with Béarnaise and chips. Result! Easy winner here, Sophie's pre-theatre menu is a bargain. And if you register on their website, they give you a free lunch.

RESULT - It's a tight one but Sophie's emerge victorious 3.5 to 2.5. I look forward to the Hawksmoor trouncing both of these.

Slight redesign

I've decided to give the site a slight redesign. Im sure you will all agree that this is much more sexy. Let me know if you can view it properly or if you are having any issues. I'm aware of a few teething problems but I am working on them as we speak. Ciao for now!

Eat Tapas : Barrafina, Frith Street

Firstly, I realise I haven’t blogged in a while. It’s not because I have been slack, but unfortunately the hospital has once again reared its ugly head and has decided to interfere in my more social activities. As it happens, I have been in and out of hospital over the last few days for various tests and minor procedures, and all being well, should be my last for a while. Anyway, back to the food!

Now tapas have never been my favourite type of food. I mean, I love dim sum, which is basically Chinese tapas so why don’t I like Tapas? I think the answer really lies in the fact that I have never had decent tapas. I’ve been to La Tasca before (never again, major food fail) and various other smaller establishments which have never blown me away. I did have some tapas in Madrid, but only in bars and mostly potato salad, which was actually the best potato salad I have ever had. Anyway I decided it was about time I gave it another go so after my regular Monday appointment at the docs, I jumped on the bus and headed off to Soho for some real tapas.

I read a lot of food blogs and when it comes to tapas, one name seems to jump out and that is Barrafina on Frith Street. With an afternoon to kill, the sun shining and a belly to fill, I jumped on the bus and headed off to Soho. Along with the reviews praising the food, there are normally complaints about the queues as they do not take bookings. Barrafina is a pretty small place and you come in and take a stool at the bar. When I got there for lunch, it was pretty busy but there were a few spaces free and soon emptied out. So big tick, no wait and a nice cosy atmosphere.

Next tick, the menu. It’s simple and straightforward with a few selections under each of the main headings (meat, veg, fish etc...). I always liked places which keeps things simple and does a few things well. I proceeded to order the Jamon Croquetas, a tortilla and some lamb cutlets with a salad on the side. There is also an array of daily specials but not being a great fish eater, I stuck to the basics.

My plates arrived one by one and I had to stop myself from wolfing them down immediately. The croquetas were crispy on the outside whilst velvety smooth on the inside with the salty kick of the chunks of jamon. The tortilla was again, beautifully cooked with slight give in the middle, the potato still left with a little bite but cooked through. And the lamb cutlets were expertly grilled with a light herb and garlic oil just to complement the lamb. So the food, one big tick.

One thing that really impressed me with this place was the care and attention taken. The young female Spanish chef on the pass was meticulous and wasn’t afraid to send anything back that wasn’t cooked properly. She quite clearly cared about the food and one great thing about dining next to the action is that the guests can witness the commitment and skill of the staff.

In the end, the bill came to just over £20 which may seem a little steep for a lunchtime meal but at the end of the day, tapas is meant for sharing and the dishes are perfectly proportioned to do so. I ate on my own but will definitely bring somebody next time. After this delicious meal, I decided to have a wander around Soho, an area of London I have never really properly explored. Please take a look at a few photos I took here.

Look out for a bit more action from the Tehbus next week, doctors permitting.

Eat Chinese : Dragon Castle, Elephant and Castle

Finding a good Dim Sum place is an essential part of being Chinese. The hunt had begun ever since the Teh family moved over to the UK from Germany and has been ongoing ever since. During this long and arduous journey, we have loved and left the New World in Chinatown (a shame as it used to be brilliant), stuck our noses up at Royal China (overrated and over priced), marvelled at Yauatcha's invention and got confused with the new Dim Sum fusion restaurants (yes you Ping Pong and Dim T).

To cut it short, we've been around a bit. So imagine my surprise when the ground floor off the monstrous blue building at the top of the Walworth road opened up to reveal Dragon Castle. Now this place is a mere ten minutes drive from my flat. This wasn't luck, this was fate.

I have been here many times, so I guess it's about time I wrote about why it's so great. And it is great. I have eaten here for dinner and for Dim Sum (traditional Chinese brunch comprising of dumplings and fried loveliness) many times, and with good reason. Put simply, the food is great. I'm guessing you want a bit more detail, so here it goes.



The Dim Sum menu is pretty straightforward. It's certainly not as fancy as something you would get in Royal China, but at the end of the day, it's all about the taste. The menu itself is quite clear with pictures of all its dim sum and brief descriptions of what they are. The steamed dim sum is of a decent standard. Their Har Gau is juicy and tender and full of prawn, their bean curd rolls are in a lovely sauce with good bit left to the bean curd skins, and their Shanghai soup dumplings full of lovely soup (a sure fire sign of good Dim Sum). Although it doesn't have normal spring rolls (although their prawn ones and Vietnamese ones certainly make up for this), its fried goods are not oily or greasy, and crispy. Definitely try their Wu Kok aka "Crispy Taro Croquette with Pork", absolutely delicious.




Another speciality of theirs is their noodles. Whenever I go there, we normally back up the Dim Sum with a plate of noodles. Personal favourites include their Seafood with crispy noodles and their Beef Ho Fun in black bean sauce.

So, to cut a long story short, this place rocks. The food is great, tastes fresh (I can't guarantee it, but I'm pretty sure they get all their ingredients shipped in daily), is very affordable (try as hard as you may, it's going to end up at about £15 a head) and is endorsed by my dad. Now that may not sound like much, but this is coming from the man where everything is "alright but too expensive". I take him to this place, and you won't hear a peep from him, even when the bill comes.

Eat French : La Brasserie, Brompton Road

It's a tradition in the Teh family that on your birthday, you get to choose a restaurant to go and have a meal. As my middle sister seems to be spending a lot of time in Fulham (owing to friend and boyfriend commitments), I guess it was no surprise that we found ourselves on the Brompton Road for a nice French supper at La Brasserie.

As the name suggests, decor was very much modelled on a French Brasserie, but as I can't really remember much else about it, can't have been particularly impressive. As we sat down and waited for my sister (who incidentally was late and was only coming from 5 minutes away. FAIL!) We were brought some decent bread, but the star of the show was the butter. Unsalted, creamy and absolutely delicious.

As to the menu, if you're looking for French food, this place ticks all the boxes. Escargot. Tick. Soupe a l'oignon. Tick. Steak Tartare. Tick. I could tick forever. As you can see, prices are in the upper echelons, and after ordering the onion soup and entrecote, I was hoping for fireworks.


What I did get may not have set the night on fire, but were more like sparklers than fireworks. The onion soup was adequately pleasant, with a tonne of Gruyere melted on top. The crouton was, I guess, traditional, but was a little too soggy for my liking. The entrecote was requested at medium and medium it was, with a good flavour. However, it was far too tough.


One thing I noticed was that everything seemed to be very heavily salted. Being the Chinese family we are, we tried a bit of everybody's food. My mum had lamb, which was alright. My sister had the crab linguine which would have been nice, had it not been for the fact that I'm not the biggest fan of crab and it was far too salty. My other sisters duck (yes, I have more than 1. 3 at the last count) seemed to be nice. I didn't have a chance to taste it before she had polished it off. Finally, a side of Potato Gratin was again, predictably, salty and the portion was meagre, very much on the small side.

Final verdict, an ok meal. It was, in my eyes, pretty pricey for what we got, but at the end of the day, this is the heart of Fulham so what really was I expecting?

Eat Burgers : Byron, Kings Road

Prior to an evening out on the lash celebrating my middle sister's birthday, I decided to hook up with my old chum and converted carnivore (he now eats carrots and sometimes mushrooms), Michael, and visit Byron on the Kings Road. Having eaten at their High Street Ken branch before, I pretty much knew what to expect and was looking forward to a decent burger.

Making my way from Victoria, I caught the number 11 bus but seriously underestimated how far down the Kings Road Byron actually was and ended getting off far too early. No matter, it was a lovely crisp dry evening and a good walk was what I needed.


Now, as chance would have it, I "conveniently" bumped into one of gossip mag's favourite targets. Now Lindsay, please stop harassing me. Read between the lines, ITS OVER! Please stop stalking me. Hmm...


Anyway, after that brief brush with Hollywood, it's off for that burger. Having arrived early, I perused the menu whilst sipping on my Oreo shake. The shake by the way is thick and lovely and packed with bits of Oreo. A result in its own right. The menu itself is fairly limited but at the end of the day, this place is a burger restaurant and doesn't pretend to be anything else.


I went for the signature Byron burger with sides of fries and coleslaw. With its provenance plastered everywhere (sourced exclusively from Morayshire, Scotland!) it's essentially a beef burger with cheese and bacon. And not a bad one I must say. The beef was flavoursome, if a little on the dry side. They are meant to be cooked medium but mine was definitely erring on the side of well done. Garnishes were good with a decent pickle and nice sauce. I rather liked the bun too, a very important part of a good burger. It was nice and soft, retained its shape and didn't go soggy. Fries were pretty decent although nothing to crazy over and coleslaw good too.

As burgers go, this place was enjoyable and well worth a visit. One minus, there was an off putting smell of gas lingering around but as my mate pointed out, there are lots of candles everywhere, and if we were going to be blown up, we would already be in small pieces. Strangely reassuring.

See : Southbank, London Bridge to Waterloo

Today’s expedition sees the Tehbus venturing north from Camberwell all the way up to London Bridge in readiness to traverse the expanse that is more commonly known as the Southbank. My intention is to make my way all along the Southbank, taking in all the delights it has to offer, setting off from London Bridge and ending up in Westminster. This covers the first half of the trip, London Bridge to Waterloo.

1. Borough Market - A "must visit" destination for anybody who has even a fleeting interest in food. Be wary, it is only open on Thursday-Sunday, but even if you’re in the area on any other days, there are numerous shops and stalls which are open for your perusal. Packed with fresh veg, oils, breads and pretty much every other comestible under the sun. Most stalls offer little tasters, you will probably fill yourself up before you head for something more substantial, like the venison burgers or authentic German sausages. Notable places to visit include the Ginger Pig (for all your meaty requirements, a great traditional British butchers), Tapas Brindisa (top notch authentic Spanish tapas, try the jamon iberico) and Monmouth Coffee. With my latte from Monmouth in hand, I proceeded west and continued up the Southbank.

2. The Globe Theatre - This theatre is a faithful recreation of Shakespeare's Globe and is somewhat a homage to all things Shakespeare. It’s a great place to experience a Shakespeare play, with a highly unique space and is split between standing and seating. About half the tickets are standing tickets and are dirt cheap. At the moment, they are showing "As You Like It" and "Troilus and Cressida" so catch them whilst you can.

3. The Tate Modern - Continuing west along the Southbank, the next prominent building you will come across is the Tate Modern. Directly opposite St Pauls (and linked via the "wobbly bridge" or the Millennium Bridge as it is better known), the Tate Modern is housed in a disused power station and its main tower stands out along the London skyline. As its name suggests, it houses a plethora of examples of modern art, ranging from lesser known British artists to the more well known such as Picasso and Dali. The main space is what is known as the Turbine hall and is normally dominated by one main exhibition piece. At the moment, this is full of bunk beds with books on them, a dinosaur and a big spider, courtesy of Dominique Gonzales-Foerster. Up to the 3rd floor finds you on the first real exhibition floor and at the moment, the themes are "Material Gestures" and "Poetry and Dream". I wandered around these exhibitions, easily passing a few hours and immersed myself in works from artists all over the world. The expert description next to each piece of art really helps you immerse yourself in the work. Real thought provoking stuff.

After this, I was all cultured out and hungry, so decided to leave the Tate Modern for now and revisit this at a later date. Other current exhibitions include "Rodchenko and Popova" and "Roni Horn aka Roni Horn".

4. The OXO Tower - By this stage, I was starving so I attempted to locate some food. Now don’t get me wrong, the Southbank has an abundance of restaurants and cafes. The OXO Tower is no exception. Housing various shops and restaurants, the piece the resistance is the restaurant located on the 8th floor. So, optimistically, I thought I would head up there and check it out. I knew it would be pricey, but I couldn’t justify forking out £33 on the set lunch. It wasn’t a wasted journey however, as there is a viewing platform affording fantastic views over London. My quest for food continues.

5. Gabriels Wharf - So my next stop was Gabriels Wharf. Having stayed in halls during my uni days on nearby Stamford Street, I used to visit this place fairly regularly. Home to a variety of little craft shops and places to grab a bite to eat, it’s a nice little oasis just off the Southbank. I ended up in the House of Crepes, it just being after pancake day and all, had my food for under a fiver and was on my way.

6. The National Theatre - My final stop is located right next to Waterloo Bridge and is a big grey lump of concrete. I say that disdainfully and in all honesty, this building has the potential to be one of London’s ugliest buildings. However, clever lighting actually makes this place look good, especially at night. Anyway, I digress. What’s important here is what this concrete block houses. Here you will find three theatres, not to mention various bars, shops and restaurants (although they detract from the main feature). These theatres are host to various plays originating from all over the world. Well worth checking out if you have the time. Also, if you book early enough, Travelex run a £10 ticket promotion which is an absolute bargain.

Anyway, after all this walking, I was pretty knackered and ready to go home. I set off for the bus stop located outside Waterloo and headed off home via Somerfield for some pig for dinner.

For more pictures, please feel free to visit my flickr page here.

See : Covent Garden

Covent Garden has always been touted as one of London's premium tourist attractions. Having worked in the area for many years, it had always had a slightly different appeal to me. For me, Covent Garden was mainly about its abundance of bars and places to eat (the essential destinations after a hard days work). For this reason, Covent Garden is and always will be one of my favourite places to spend time in London.

However, a new job had found me relocated to Victoria and since then, I haven't really been back (terrible, I know). With a few hours to kill, I decided to reacquaint myself with the area, go for a walk and put together a virtual guide of my favourite places to visit in the area.

1. CyberCandy - Heading down from Leicester Square, my first stop is CyberCandy. For those with a sweet tooth, this is a must visit. Its basically a global sweetshop with a startling amount of sweets and comestibles from all over the world. From A&W Root Beer (my favourite), a 4 pack of Duff Beer (yes, really) and even Caramel Freddos to Tootsie Rolls. Even for those without a sweet tooth, this place is worth a visit just to see the oddities on offer.

2. The Plaza - This is probably what most people think of when they think of Covent Garden and rightly so. The Plaza is very much the centerpiece and houses many little gems which are not to be missed. Firstly, you have the Apple Market. Here, various vendors from near and far come to sell their wares. Yes, it sounds slightly tacky but there are lots of little stalls to browse where much on offer is handmade and its a good way to while away the minutes. If this isn't your thing, there are many other more mainstream shops lining the plaza where you can go and spend your hard earned cash. If your all pooped out from shopping, you can always catch your breath by watching one of the many entertainers dotted around, varying from musicians in the basement to stuntmen outside in the courtyard. If "entertainment" isnt your thing, theres always the famous Punch and Judy pub for a pint with great views over the plaza. And last but by no means least is Ben's Cookies. This is a little cookie stall which sells probably the priciest cookies you will ever eat (normally weighing in at over a quid each!) but God are they good. With a huge variety, its definitely worth splurging out once in a while. When I passed by, it certainly didnt appear as if we were in the midst of a credit crunch. In fact, people were queuing out the door just to get their hands on these cookies!

3. Maiden Lane - Maiden Lane is located towards the southern end of Covent Garden and contains a variety of bars and restaurants. Favourites include The Porterhouse, a maze of a pub, serving a variety of ales and lagers and Rules, the oldest restaurant in London, serving traditional English classics (admittedly at a price!).

4. Other interesting places - To be honest, Covent Garden is crammed full of places to go and see, go and eat and go and drink, listing all of them would be a pretty massive task. Therefore, im just going to list a few of my other favourites. If you like shopping, there is a good mix of designer shops mingling with boutiques north of Covent Garden tube station and along Long Acre, this area alone could take up a whole day. Good places to go and grab a meal include Wahaca, which serves Mexican street food (you have to try the pork scratchings with guacamole, it tastes a lot better than it sounds). If you dont fancy eating in, Kastner and Ovens (located at the north end of Floral Street) does good home cooked take away food. If your looking for a good pint, theres always the Lyceum Tavern located on the Strand. This traditional pub serves a decent pint at ridiculously cheap prices (its a Samuel Smiths pub after all, man in the box!). Finally, a tip an old friend once taught me, make sure you look up. You miss so much of London keeping your eyes at street level. One of the best tips anybody has ever given me.

Eat Italian : Rosso Pomodoro, Leicester Square

I met up with my good old workmate Hutch the other day after my regular appointment at the docs. Is he a good mate? Well, when I was ill, he bought me a bunch of magazines and dutifully delivered them to the hospital, even though I had already informed him that I was no longer there! He still sent them to me so I guess the answer is yes, a good mate indeed.

Anyway, I digress. He works around the Strand, and as many of you may know, there is an abundance of chain restaurants to go and eat in the area. Lunchtime in the area is always busy and after an aborted visit to GBK (half term strikes again) we decided to head up to Rosso Pomodoro just round the corner from Stringfellows.

And for once, im thankful for the kids packing their faces with burger.

Rosso Pomodoro is an italian restaurant serving your standard italian fare. A large variety of pizzas and pastas all at about a tenner a piece although there are some decently priced lunch menus incorporating rotating dishes of the day. One of its "stand out points" is that it prides itself on the fact that you are meant to eat to eat your pizza with your hands and you are constantly reminded of this througout the restaurant with signs literally everywhere. I was here for the pizza so pizza I ordered.


Now, before I go onto the food, I have to add a small note. I have always thought that a person can judge a restaurant by its napkins. Cheap establishments often have cheap napkins. An essential part to any meal, its important to have a good one to fully appreciate what is set before you. At Rosso Pomodoro, the napkins speak for themselves. They are nicely patternated, strong with good "wipeability" factor. In fact, they wouldnt look out of place if you pulled it out of your pocket and wiped your brow at a posh dinner party. As Hutch said "there are plastic fibres running through this bad boy!".


So, could the pizza live upto the napkins? I am happy to say, I was quite pleased. The dough was light but firm enough to support the toppings, the crusts were crispy and tasty, the mozzarella was creamy and all in all, this was a highly accomplished pizza. Of the latest breed of wood fired oven pizzas, this was definitely up there. My only criticism was that the tomato sauce, although tangy and rich in tomato flavour, was slightly acidic in taste. A small price to pay for a great pizza. I will definitely pop in again if I am in the area.

See : The Taming of the Shrew @ The Novello Theatre

One of those things I enjoy doing but don’t do enough (like cooking, playing snooker, anything which involves any sort of effort etc...) is going to the theatre. This is for various reasons (including the fact that it involves effort on my behalf) but mainly due to costs. Going to the theatre and getting a decent seat involves money and often a lot of it. A seat in the stalls of a west end production is often in the region of £40 and upwards, making it pretty hard to justify for a night out. However, there are lots of good discount sites out there with limited offers and if you look hard enough, you can normally find a decent deal.

It is through one of these deals that I found myself in seat N12 at the Novello theatre about to watch the RSC's production of the Taming of the Shrew, slap bang in the middle of the stalls for a mere £20! If you haven’t signed up for lastminute.com emails, do it now. They often have some stonking deals as I found out.

The Taming of the Shrew is classed as one of Shakespeare’s comedy and centers around the marriages of the "shrew", Katherina, and her sister. The play is very much split into two with half centered around the marriage of Katherina to Petruchio and the subsequent "taming" of her and the second sub plot revolves around Bianca, the younger sister, and her suitors eventually leading to her marriage.

For a play which has been adapted many times in the modern day (such as "Kiss me Kate" and "10 Things I Hate About You"), it was always going to be interesting to see how the RSC was going to interpret Shakespeare’s words. In my eyes, this was a play of darkness and light. The light comes from the antics surrounding Bianca's suitors and the lengths they would go to gain her hand in marriage. This part was filled with great comedy moments, none more so than when the fake Lucentio introduces the fake Vincentio to his prospective father-in-law, Baptista Minola. Pure genius, you have to see it to believe it and had me in stitches.

The other part of the play is very much darkness to this light. This mainly revolves around the deconstruction of Katherina by Petruchio. I believe that this is where the phrase "killing with kindness" originates and we indeed see the transformation of a headstrong Kate into a whimpering and subservient Katherina. A star turn by Michelle Gomez of Green Wing fame makes it very hard to tear your eyes of her whenever she is on stage.

All in all, a really good production. I was engrossed for the entire 3 hour running time and it left me really thinking about what I had just seen and ultimately made me want to reread the play, just to revisit any of the nuances I may have missed in the play. It comes highly recommended and is only running till the 7th of March so catch it while you can.