I set out for Dim Sum and ended up with Burger, Haché in Camden

Its Saturday and I am hungry, after all, all I have eaten in the last 24 hours is a banana, a satsuma and a packet of sour cream and onion crisps. Destination is Goldfish, a chinese restaurant in Hampstead which promises an unlimited Dim Sum buffet. Too good to be true?

Arriving at Goldfish, its still quite early and the place is empty. I found it slightly disheartening that Ping Pong next door was already filling up. The waitress gives me the menu but as I am dining alone, I'm not allowed to have the buffet. Err, ok then, I will order off the menu. She passes me the dim sum menu, only for another waitress to come over and snatch it off me, telling me that they don't serve a la carte dim sum at the weekend. Alright, I've had enough, I'm outta here.

What ensues next is what I can only call " a bit of an adventure". A few buses and a bit of walking around later (god bless maps on iphone), I end up in Camden heading for Haché.



Haché has a fearsome reputation on the London burger scene. I had never been and its about time I tried their chopped as opposed to minced beef burgers. The inside is quite dark and the dining room is much smaller than I thought it would be and its no surprise that it was pretty full by 1pm.



To drink, I ordered a Fruits of the Forest smoothie, a bit steep at £3.65 but very refreshing, with subtle honey undertones and a slight sourness from the yoghurt.



My chosen burger was the "Classique Anglais" with extra bacon and a side of french fries. Not sure whats that english about my burger, but the mushrooms and onions arrived piled high. The burger in front of me really is a thing of beauty. Deconstructing it bit by bit, the burger is pink in the middle but feels a little overdone. However, the taste is fantastic. Well seasoned, deeply beefy and full of flavour. The bun, often a bum note on many burgers, is soft and untoasted but is strong enough to hold the mountain of filling. Bacon was definitely overkill. Unneccesary and made the whole burger a bit salty. I took it out, but not wanting to waste it, I used a bit of the bun and formed a mini bacon sarnie. The french fries were a bit rubbish, to be honest. They were overdone and far too salty. Disappointing.

Was this the best burger I have ever had? No, not by a long way but it was very good and I would definitely put it into the "value for money" bracket. There is so much that is right about this place, but on the other hand, there is plenty which is quite wrong. It still has quite a way to go to meet the standards set by the New York burger joints (my favourite being JG Melon).

Is it the best burger in London? Personally, I wouldn't agree with that either. I much prefer Byron's brighter restaurants, simple approach and because it has an Oreo milkshake with a toasted and melted marshmallow milkshake in the works. I really can't wait!

Haché Camden, 24 Inverness Street, Camden, NW1 7HJ

New Tastes - 8th to 14th August

I'm a relatively fussy eater. Always have been and always will be. Up until 6 months ago, I had led a relatively sheltered life, gastronomically. All sorts of things disagreed with me. There was a time not so long ago when tomatoes, avocados, prawns and any form of fish was a total no go area. Luckily times have moved on since then, but only very slowly.

However, I made it my mission to at least make an effort to try everything once. So on occasions, I am going to post new things I have eaten and my opinions on them. Edition 1 has landed:

Suku Laku

("borrowed" from Catty)

Encountered in the goodie bag that Catty gave me. Essentially, its filled liquorice. Filled with what I hear you say? I'm not too sure, I can't read Finnish but my guess is a sort of chocolatey/malty combination. And lovely it was too. I dislike liquorice, but this worked. Nice and definitely have again.

Raw Meat

("borrowed" from Foodbymark)

I never order steak tartare. The thought sickens me, to be honest. And the fact that you mix in a raw egg yolk with it too. No thank you.

What you can see above is essentially a korean version of a steak tartare. Called yook hwei, it is seasoned raw beef with sliced pears. For me, it was an interesting and challenging combination but I gave it a go. The beef was chilled and icy, and doused in a sesame dressing. The sesame overpowered the flavour of the beef but combined with the sweet pears, it was a real fandango of textures and flavours. All right, but wouldn't eat a whole one.

Ox Tongue

("borrowed" from Londoneater)

Hmm, tongue. Another new introduction for me at the Korean BBQ at Koba. A slightly tougher and stringier meat in my eyes, it definitely has quite a unique taste, which is far from unpleasant. I would say it definitely has a deeper, meatier, more developed flavour than your regular cut of beef. Would I have it again? Definitely, although I wouldn't say it would be the first thing I would choose.

Smoked Salmon

Smoked salmon. Yeeurgh! Slimy, fishy and frankly disgusting. These have been my thoughts on the issue for pretty much every single one of my years on this planet. It was going to take something special to change my mind.

And then it happened. Covent Garden has been holding a "Real" food fair every Thursday from April, where a decent amount of stalls are set up and selling food of all sorts of shapes and sizes. This particular Thursday saw Niamh (aka @eatlikeagirl) set up stall and sell some smoked salmon sourced from Frank Hederman back in her homeland of Ireland, accompanied with home baked soda bread, pickled cucumbers and Irish butter. I never thought it would happen, but this smoked salmon really opened my eyes. It was incredibly meaty and didn't have that fishy smell I normally associate with smoked salmon. The flavour had subtle hints of smokiness, as you would suspect, but nothing overpowering. It was smooth as opposed to slimy and the bread and pickles were the perfect accompaniment. A total triumph. For more info, please read Niamh's post right here.

Food Blogger Overload! The BPR Summit and Tweatup No. 2 at Koba

Twitter. Without this, I would probably never have met the people I have over the last 3 days. I've been on Twitter since the early days, a semi early adopter. I signed up, I tweeted and then I stopped. Its not until the last 7 or 8 months that I have really started using it more frequently, and it was through this medium that I started to (virtually) meet others with the same interests as me, one of which happens to be all things food.


This merry path led me to the Bloggers PR summit, held at the Rubens Hotel and organised by @timhayward (Guardians Word of Mouth) and @spoonhq (Sarah Canet of Spoon PR). The aim was simple, help PR to understand bloggers and vice versa. I think its understood that both parties have a lot to gain from a good two-way relationship, and that at the moment, this relationship is very much in its infancy.

I'm not going to bother going into too much detail about this as there have been some very good write ups about this meeting already, notably the WoM piece and the write-ups on with knife and fork and Silverbrow on Food. What I will say is that the conversation appeared fruitful and definitely quite informative from a bloggers point of view with regards to the work of the PR. I do, however, feel that quite a few of the PR's in the room seemed to miss the point. The questions they asked and suggestions proposed were very much focused on things the bloggers could do to make their lives easier. I think many failed to realise that for us bloggers, blogging is about indulging an interest as opposed to a job. It was disappointing to think that many PR's had turned up just to see what they could get out of the bloggers, and they were conspicuous by their absence from the pub afterwards. I actually felt that many of the more constructive conversations between PR and bloggers were held in the pub as opposed to the actual summit. Special mention goes out to two PR's who I spoke to, Nancy from Selfridges and Kate from Paul A. Young, who made their way over to the pub and braved the lions den.

Debate aside, the pub was a scary place for me. Being a relative newbie in the blogging world, I was in a room with many people who I had been chatting to over Twitter, and reading their blogs on an almost daily basis. Many were already acquainted with each other but I took the plunge and introduced myself.

Twitter is such a strange beast. I hadn't met any of these people before but knew loads about them already by conversing over twitter, discussing matters such as egg tarts, what we used to eat as children, steak and so on. This made conversation a pleasure as opposed to a chore and the night was over almost as soon as it had started. Special mentions go out to @chrispople, @gingergourmand, @foodstories, @hollowlegs, @oliverthring, @eatlikeagirl, @essexeating, @foodurchin, @eatmynels, @biggestjim and @goodshoeday. I'm sorry if I have missed anybody out, but I had a great time and it was a pleasure to meet you all.

Blimey, this post is turning out to be a lot longer than I thought.

Two days later, a group of 6 food fanatics converged on Koba, a Korean BBQ on Fitzroy street. The same butterflies applied as before. I had met @catty and @supercharz before (two fine young ladies with voracious appetites) but this time @londoneater, @foodbymark and @foodieguide were joining us.

I have to be honest, I don't remember too much about the meal itself, we were all too busy chatting. I do remember the following:


○ Catty ordering an absolute mountain of food.


○ Us subsequently running out of food so we had to order more.


○ The fiercest looking soup I had ever seen (which was delicious and very much a sheep in wolves clothing)

○ Catty providing little goodie bags containing Suku Laku, a Tim Tam, chocolate coated macadamias and nougat, mmmmmm..........


○ Me eating raw meat (Yukhwei) and ox tongue, both firsts and both surprisingly nice


○ Kang's chocolates from Belgium

○ Serious camera envy

○ One of the staff trying as hard as they could to chop Helen's finger off.

(any pics of Koba, I stole off @foodbymark, cheers mate)

Details of the meal are scant, I know, but Mark's pictures should give you a better insight into what it was all about. The meal itself was a great experience. From the spicy pickled veg (kimchi), to the lovely soups (chigae) and dumplings (mandoo), every dish hit the spot. By the time the BBQ was wheeled out, we were ready for the veritable meat feast which was about to arrive and subsequently gorged ourselves on pork belly, beef (ribs and marinated slices), chicken and squid.

Koba comes highly recommended. The food was great but the company was even better. Through something as strange as twitter, I genuinely feel like I have made some real friends. Bring on tweat up number three!

Koba, 11 Rathbone Street, W1T 1NA

Mmmmmm...grilled meat. Cyprus Mangal

One of the more recent topics of discussion in the twitterverse revolved around what smell made you feel hungry. Instigated by a certain Mr Heston Blumenthal himself (no doubt to create some strange edible candle or fashion the smell into a form of cutlery) various suggestions were bandied around. These included the smell of frying onions, freshly baked bread and cooked bacon amongst many others. However, one of the more popular choices appears to be the smell of meat roasting (sorry to all the vegetarians out there, but its true, your missing out).



Fuelled by this debate, I decided to go and find my own grilled meat. I thought about trying "that fire grill" at Kazan but serious budgetary concerns held me back. Instead, on the recommendation of my old mate Gav, I headed for the Cyprus Mangal. Another good place to eat in Victoria, surely not?

And I was right, technically its not in Victoria but more towards Pimlico. I entered an almost empty and pretty tiny restaurant. Initial impressions not great but I felt the reassuring heat off the coals as I headed to my seat and soon, as that familiar smell of grilling meat wafted over, I felt that everything was going to be alright.



I ordered the mixed grill and a side of grilled halloumi (a personal but ultimately unnecessary favourite). Halloumi, was well, halloumi. Nice and salty and came in rather large chunks. Bit disappointed by the level of grilling on two of the three pieces, could have done with a bit more of a char.



The mixed grill comprised of a decent bit of kofte with some cubes of chicken and lamb shish. The kofte, normally my favourite bit of meat from the mangal, was of a very good standard. Speckled with an even char from those searing hot coals, the juiciness of the lamb was sealed in, releasing their flavour only once I took my first bite. The shish were not as good. The chicken and lamb looked more like they had been licked by the coals as opposed to kissed. Personally, I like mine not only kissed by the flames, but held down and involving tongues, real evidence that the coals are hot and working their magic. The bits of lamb were also the tiniest shish I have ever seen and the chicken underseasoned. The salad was strange in that it was lacking in salad leaves. Not totally convinced.

As I left, the place had filled up and was close to bursting point. I had to barge past the poor souls waiting for a table whilst battling the heat emanating from the smouldering charcoal. Overall verdict is not bad. I still prefer my local (FM Mangal in Camberwell) but its not a bad place to fulfill that meat craving.

p.s. Please note, the "Mr Blumenthal" mentioned above was a fraud, but the sentiments are the same. What smell makes you hungry?

Cyprus Mangal, 45 Warwick Way, Pimlico, SW1V 1QS

Sichuan tasters at Ba Shan

I'm going to keep this one short. I witter too much. I twitter too much. I do too much of lots of things. Usually I like to build a story, but there isn't really a story with this one.

I was going to head up to Hampstead to sample the unlimited Dim Sum buffet at Goldfish. I kid you not, its amazing what you learn through twitter but I definitely think this is one of the most valuable pieces of information that this social communication medium has provided me.

However, as usual, "the best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry" and after a brief message from the Big German, I was off to meet him instead. I still needed to eat and as I was going to be in the Chinatown area, I decided to tick another place off my wish list and headed for Ba Shan,

Sister of the Baozi Inn and Bar Shu (none of which I had visited), Ba Shan specialises in Sichuan food. I know nada about Sichuan food other than its spicy, likes it's dried chillies and pepper and quite distinctive in taste. I was in a hurry, so perused the menu very quickly (it is pretty extensive) and ordered a few things that sounded nice.

Jiamo with Tender Stewed Pork



I never knew the Chinese did Pita! Well, these are tiny flat breads filled with a spiced stewed pork, rich in those earthy Sichuan flavours, and very nice they were too. Shame that there was so little meat.

Pork ChaoShou in Broth



Posh wanton soup. The broth was very nice, deep in umami and the chaoshou themselves had a comforting porky flavour. The only problem I had was that the skins of the dumplings weren't very well sealed and were falling apart in the broth.

Pork and Chinese Chive Guotie



Really enjoyed these. Steamed and then fried on one side, these had the same strong flavour as the chaoshou and disappeared rather quickly.

Dan Dan Noodles



I was on the verge of being very stuffed at this stage. I had one bite and was immediately disappointed, first impressions was that this dish was bland. Hang on, I hadn't mixed it all up. Schoolboy error. Once the noodles had been adequately mingled with the sauce beneath, there was a taste explosion. The sauce had a deep earthy and slightly aniseed flavour, mingling with some minced pork (would benefit from more) and topped off with fiery chillies. I tried stopping but couldn't, it was soon all gone.

Foodwise, I thoroughly enjoyed Ba Shan. The quality is high and the staff were friendly and efficient. It is , however, very much on the pricy side. I ordered a fair bit but eating on my own, my bill came to more than £25. Way too pricy for the area. I love the food here but I love the food down at Wong Kei's just as much. Crispy pork and rice, anyone?

Ba Shan, 24 Romilly Street, Soho, W1D 5AH

The Perfect Brunch at Lantana

If I had to choose, I think breakfast is probably my favourite meal of the day. There isn't much that can beat a bacon and egg sarnie on buttered white bread, especially to beat away those post "oops I had one too many" blues . Or even a bowl of cereal doused in ice cold milk. There are few ills in the world that a few slices of toast licked with butter and a mug of builders tea can't fix.


I think the scene is adequately set. Its Saturday and I need to eat. I have nothing planned, the weather is nice, I am up early and am heading for one of the most hyped places in recent eating history. Lantana is a small (-ish) cafe located just off Charlotte Street. It specialises in what I consider "breakfast food", but certainly has a good reputation for a whole lot more and has been mentioned so many times in the blogosphere, one more write up couldn't hurt.



I really don't have an issue eating on my own and Lantana is perfectly set up for its solo visitors with its "breakfast bar" out the front. I get there early (for a Saturday). Its 11:30 and its buzzing and already packed bar one seat out the front which I happily occupy. First up I ordered a flat white from the infectiously cheerful Aussie girl who was serving me. The sign outside claims that it is one of the best in London, and indeed it is very good. Although it arrived lukewarm (my second was piping hot), it was as smooth and creamy as any coffee I have tried in London and had that mellow caffeine hit which jolted me back from my pre-food malaise. Great stuff.



What I got next was as close to brunch heaven as your going to get (IMHO). It looks like a bit of a mess but there is so much going on here. First, there's the main part of the dish, the halloumi. Salty and perfectly grilled, its a perfect foil for the iron rich spinach, sautéed with fine flecks of garlic, located underneath. Dive a little further and you hit the deep and earthy flavours of the flat cap mushrooms, dotted with a herb pesto. All this topped with a perfectly poached egg yielding a golden runny yolk. On the side, some of the sweetest roast tomatoes I have ever eaten as well as some toasted sourdough, slowly mopping up the juices collecting at the bottom of the plate. In addition, I ordered a side of bacon (I need meat), the perfect foil for all of the above.

I really hope my description gave this dish justice. I know its not been the same experience for everyone, but this was as close to a perfect dining experience as I can remember. I ate my food so fast that I was sure I was going to give myself indigestion and even considered ordering more food although I was thoroughly stuffed.

I really like this place, can you tell? It is already seriously hyped up, and I guess I have just added to it, but the food they are churning out is seriously tasty, as is their coffee. I would love to eat here every day if it wasn't for the fact that I work miles away and that it is quite dear. I guess you get what you pay for, but come pay day, your going to find me out the front, reading my book, drinking my coffee and best of all, tucking into my food.

Lantana (website), 13 Charlotte Place, W1T 1SN

Anacapri, an Italian non-adventure

After "that" game at Lords, a few of my compatriots and I wanted to avoid the over priced grub from within the ground (and quite possibly the worlds biggest pies, the one above was half finished and passed liberally amongst that guys friends) and opt for some over priced grub outside the ground.

It was a Monday, I had the rest of the day off and I wanted to tick another of those "destination" eateries off my list. Having anticipated an early finish, I pencilled in a visit to the Anchor and Hope on the Cut. This is somewhere I am ashamed to say I had not yet visited (not for lack of trying on a few occasions). I roped along @shalmaneser, his brother-in-law and his brother-in-law-to-be, the big aussie, and off we went.

My planning skills appear to be a bit pants. Realisation hit me that I should actually check if they are open and sure enough, they are shut on Monday lunchtime. Now, I don't work that well under pressure and we needed to find an alternative destination. Heading to Marylebone, we scrabbled around on Urbanspoon and settled on Anacapri, a neighbourhood Italian eatery with a fair few good write ups.



We got there, it was early afternoon, and I think the staff would rather be putting their feet up and having their own lunch rather than making and serving ours. We were hurriedly shoved our menus, had our drink orders taken and had some pretty unappealing semi-stale bread dumped on our table. I think the staff were miffed by the fact that we would rather chat amongst ourselves than order. We soon got the hint and made our choices.

To start, the old stalwart, Calamari Fritti



I think you can probably guess, I didn't have high hopes for this place, but these were pretty ok. The batter was quite nice and crispy. It was also relatively grease free, no mean achievement. The squid itself was on the chewy side, indicating a few seconds too long in the fryer. And they didn't exactly taste that fresh either. A lot to hope for I suppose.

Mains? Tagliatelle Alfredo please!



Tagliatelle in a mushroom and cream sauce, win win. There's not too much you can screw up here, the whole dish was reasonable and I polished the whole lot off (mainly as I was quite hungry). The tagliatelle may well have been fresh too. Made in house? Probably not, Sainsbury's do a highly palatable fresh tagliatelle.

This was very average, inoffensive food. Very much on the pricy side, I guess they have to pay their rent somehow. Its places like this which really highlight why I like to put a bit of research into my dining choices. Put on the spot, I panic. If I had taken a little longer, I would have noticed that I could have eaten at Canteen or Galvin Bistro De Luxe for almost the same amount as I spent at Anacapri. Oh well, you live and learn.

Anacapri, 10 Dorset St, W1U 6QR

The Quest for decent dumplings, Yum Cha

Once upon a time, in the realm of twitter, numerous knights from across the land lauded over their respective kingdoms, regaling tales of long lost comestible treasures, of villages where the food was made of ambrosia and their villagers owners of the heralded silver tongues.



The fair knight Tehbus surveyed his Kingdom. From within his castle housed in glass, he was envious. Far and wide, tales of wonderful coffee, perfect sandwiches and meals fit for emperors permeated his castle. And all he had was his faithful supplier, M&S, and on special occasions, feasts of chicken provided by Sir Nando's. Then one day, rumours spread amongst the kingdoms that a horde of dumplings so divine could be found at the far reaches of the twitterverse. The location, Castle Yum Cha in the Kingdom of Camden.

Knights were recruited from all over the twitterverse but the path to the divine dim sum was fraught with danger. Some were accosted en route by the evil kettle tribe, laying waste with barrages of boiling water, whilst others were waylaid as they had to tend to their villagers. The plague was particularly virulent at the moment (rumours had it that the swine folk were responsible) and many other would-be adventurers were unable to make the journey . Only three brave souls made it to the Kingdom of Camden and prepared to assault Castle Yum Cha. Madam Catty of Oz and Supercharz joined the Tehbus and the battle to conquer Yum Cha commenced.



Wave after wave of Dim Sum arrived. First to take on the brave souls were squid of chilli and garlic and the Wu Kok. Fearsome as they were, these were swiftly despatched. The smooth yam encasing a succulent combination of pork and vegetables whilst the squid were crispy but yielding, containing plenty of flavour from the garlic and chilli.



As we entered deeper into the meal, we were faced with our first tower of steamed goodness. Char Siu Pau were sweet, savoury and soft all at the same time, whilst lotus leaf rice moist, if unassuming.




Next, a trio of dumplings. These were fierce competitors, but soon defeated. They were no contest for the appetites of the fateful three. Finally, they were faced with the most dreaded of enemies, choy sum. Tehbus shuddered. Only 6 months ago, he had been conquered by this green vegetable but 6 months was a long time. Since then, hours of training had got him to a stage where conquering this enemy would be easy, enjoyable even. The savouriness of the sauce and the hit of the garlic were strong, too strong some might say, but the Tehbus revelled in it and polished it off, never to be seen again

The battle was won, Yum Cha had been defeated.



To celebrate, stomachs almost full, the fateful three decided to indulge in desserts of coconut, mango and banana. Yum Cha had indeed lived up to its fearsome reputation. Although we learned that the full army is not available in the evenings, a 50% offer softened the blow.

At the start of this journey, although the aim had been to explore new lands and defeat an old enemy, the journey was more about discovery and a bond was made between the three fateful adventurers. As the dust settled, these three sat round the fire and chatted deep into the night. The first adventure of many, the journey had only just begun.

Yum Cha, 28 Chalk Farm Road, Chalk Farm, NW1 8AG

Kazan, are you the real deal?

As many of you who read this blog know, I work in Victoria and complain about the standard of food available on a far too regular basis. There is only so many times a man can go to Nando's without getting sick of it (although some of my workmates will surely disagree). There is a nice Italian deli not too far away but we workers of Victoria are bereft of the delights that areas such as Fitzrovia and Soho have to offer.

After my last rant, a colleague recommended I try out Kazan, a local Turkish restaurant. He said it was good, but I needed serious convincing. Could this be what I was looking for?

Accompanying me on this trip was @shalmaneser. The poor geezer has had to deal with a screaming 8 week old as well as a monstrous workload and owing to good timing as opposed to good planning, we were both free to try it out

I walked in and was quite stunned. "This place looks pretty nice" I thought and it was pretty full by half seven on a balmy Summers evening. A good start. We sat down, menus at hand and assessed the options. I wanted meat and lots of it after I was unable to attend a tweat up at the Hawksmoor owing to the fact that Victoria is located in the arse end of nowhere. Kazan had a very appealing mixed grill but in the end we settled on a selection of mezze.



Lubricated by wine, we were brought some really top notch bread. Warm, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, it had a foccacia like consistency and was as potent as crack (I'm assuming). I had to force myself to stop devouring the bread along with the olives and oil that accompanied it so not to ruin my appetite (an all too familiar story).

Next up, cold mixed mezze:



Cacik (TL) - Basically yoghurt and cucumber. We asked for garlic, we didn't get garlic, but nice all the same
Patlican Stew (TR) - Stewed aubergines. A bit greasy but full of flavour. Nice.
Tabouleh (M) - If you have never had this before, its a salad made with all sorts of great stuff. The parsley kept it fresh, the lemon added that touch of zinginess and the bulgar wheat added an interesting contrast in texture. I really liked the addition of pomegranate seeds, popping and releasing their sweet juices, mingling with the rest of the flavours. Really liked this.

To follow, some hot mezze.

Kabak Koftesi



Courgette and cheese fritters served with a Turkish "salsa". Merely ok. I was pretty put off by its really rather gloopy texture. I was expecting something with a little more bite, along the lines of halloumi but what I got was a lot more runny. The salsa was interesting, if a little bland, with only the added surprise of a few hazelnuts disrupting the rather dull consistency and texture.

Sucuk/Basturma



Advertised as Turkish garlic sausage cooked on the char grill, its arrival triggered a few observations. Firstly, it looked like it had licked the char grill at best. Secondly, it didn't taste of garlic. And thirdly, this was one measly portion of sausage. Criticisms aside, it was actually quite tasty, and after all those veggie dishes, was a welcome addition to my belly.

Etli Borek



Meat, round 2. Or so I thought. These were essentially meant to be lamb samosas of sorts but what we got were filo parcels filled with the most parsimonious serving of lamb I have ever seen. Microscopes would have struggled. Tasted really nice, so why so little filling? Make me happy goddamn it!

Cop Chicken Shish



I was really hoping for something to light up my taste buds but the chicken was insipid and bland. It looked the business, but it all counts for nothing if the flavour is non-existent.

I know I may seem to have been highly critical about a few things, but I had high hopes and was anticipating big things, more hopeful than expectant really. Although hit and miss, most of the food was enjoyable and on the whole, full of interesting and contrasting flavours and textures. What I can complain about, however, is how stingy this place is. I wouldn't mind so much if it was cheaper, but at a fiver a plate for the cold mezze and £6 a plate for the hot, some of the plates were a blatant rip off (£6 for a sliced sausage anyone?).

For a Tuesday night, this place was pretty packed and you could certainly do a lot worse. It may not be fantastic, but it certainly is the best of a bad bunch. I certainly want to come back and satisfy my meat craving at the hand of the "Kazan Fire Grill". To be continued....

Kazan Victoria (website), 93-94 Wilton Road, SW1V 1DW