Category Archives: restaurant review

When I visit a restaurant, I will make some comments about the place.

Edinburgh

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5th August 2006

Back at home, our field had been mown, and turned into hay. Today it was baled and carted away.

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Flew up to Scotland from Luton. The airport was in absolute chaos at the security. At least 30 minute queue. No idea what would happened if there were some form of high security alert.

Stayed at the Apex City this week. It has been a long time since staying there. Ate at the Petit Paris.

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Tonight I ate at the Mussel and Steak, quite a good meal of Monk Fish. I just love watching the TV screens, which show the chefs working in the kitchens live. Must admit I never see my food being cooked

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Tonight it was the Petit Paris again, where I had a beautiful steak.

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Didn’t feel like going out, so stayed in at the hotel, rather a mistake, the meal was a bit lack lustre.

Why is Edinburgh so cold

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This morning flew to Edinburgh from Luton for a five day stay, allows me an extra hour in bed.  Luton was in absolute chaos; the checking hall was totally full.  Start of the holiday season I thought, but apparently Easyjet had a problem with their booking system.  They delayed all their flights by over an hour to ensure passengers were able to make it to through to departures.  Even so someone did not make it.

Flying up I was able to see the coast line from North of the Wash, round Norfolk, Suffolk, and down the Essex coastline.  This was while flying over Northampton.  On arrival at Edinburgh, found my laptop was not in the overhead lockers, so I rushed out of the plane, barging past everyone, and managed to find the culprit who had taken my laptop.  He had accidentally picked the wrong case, though the ones left in the locker seemed very different to mine, and he had still not noticed when he put papers into to bag.  In future I sh! all take more notice of what people are taking out of the locker as they leave. 

Ate in the hotel today, sitting at the bar.

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Another sunny day, but not very hot. 

Had supper at Time-4-Thai.  I have eaten there before for lunch with the other bank people.  The waiters and waitresses are very attentive.  Had a mixed platter of starters followed by a green curry.

Had a call from Mary and Ed, met up with them at the Bank Hotel.  They were sitting outside drinking wine, with 3 others from the bank.  Couple of them were staying in the Raddison hotel.  Have not bumped into them.

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Woke to a very cool day.  Arthur’s seat totally covered in cloud, and the cool easterly wind blew al day.  The sun broke through later in the day, but it remained cool all day.

Project lunch was with my colleagues at Zest, Indian restaurant next to the office.

Stayed in today at the hotel, eating a small supper of very rare Tuna, and a! plate o f chips

Edinburgh and the Mai Thai

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3rd July 2006

Up early and back to Edinburgh.  What a change, Edinburgh was freezing cold, cloudy and miserable.  By all accounts the South is still as warm as before.  Hotel had allocated me a room on the wrong side of the hotel, so unable to pick up the free broad band from the Mai Thai.

Ate at the Mai Thai, very nice green curry.

4th July 2006

Another cloudy day, with low cloud obscuring Arthur’s seat.  This evening ate at Zest, where I had a very entertaining evening.  The waiter became very animated about Portugal and football.  The restaurant is Indian run and the waiter was from the Goa, which has very strong Portuguese connections.  He also was a Roman Catholic.  I wonder if he has met Richy.

5th July 2006

There was a loud clap of thunder part way through the day.  The sun actually came out at one stage in the evening.  Watched France win against Portugal at the ! Mai Thai.  Very scrappy game as the French held on to their 1 – 0 lead, at one stage all the Portuguese were in the French side, including the goal keeper in a last ditch attempt to save the match.  The Portuguese constantly diving and arguing for fouls spoilt the game.  They should have been yellow carded.  Oh and had some very nice Dim Sum rolls, followed by a curry at the Mai Thai.

6th July 2006

The day has started off sunny, and remained fairly hot through the day.  Visited the Mai Thai, yet again, and had a red curry and Jasmine rice.   It was very good, washed down with a few Krony.  Spent a few moments talking to the owner.  For me the Mai Thai is an excellent venue, free internet access, a posh restaurant (if needed), a bar where you can drink, eat and surf, TV to watch the games, and relatively cheap beer, though I need to get them to serve some real ale.

7th July 2006

Today was the final day at the bank for a week.

England Sweden match

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Today there was a lovely blue sky.  So I walked to work with no jacket.  Stupid, this is Scotland, and the weather changes.  Walked back with no jacket in the rain.

Watched England draw 2 all to Sweden at the Mai Thai.  Wish all those Scots would shut up and support a British team.  Last week they all had Trinidad and Tobago shirts, this week they were all walking around in Swedish shirts.  I think I will join that boycott and not come here, well unless they keep me in a job.

Scotland and Holyrood Hotel

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Very early up this morning, 4.30 to catch a plane to Edinburgh from Birmingham.  Bit delayed leaving, and traffic control at Edinburgh cause a few circuits.


Booking agency rang to say my hotel was over booked, so was being moved to Holyrood hotel, which is a bit of a trek down the hill to the Scottish Parliament, so will not be doing Petit Paris this week.

Instead I ate in the Mai Thai, which has free Internet access, a bar, and  several wide screen TVs.

Edinburgh

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Back in Edinburgh for 3 days and 2 nights.  The sun has at last decided to shine, and on Tuesday evening people were even dining out on the streets.  In fact with the ban on smoking I think there were more people on the street then in the pubs.

Paid my usual visit to the Petit Paris where I indulged in a three course meal, but no wine.  Free wine in my hotel room afterwards. Such a good customer at the hotel I get free drinks.

Tuesday I went to  McKirdy’s Steakhouse on Morrison Street.  Never been there before, was recommended in some magazine we get.  Not cheap, but very good steaks.  I had fillet steak with haggis and a whisky source.  Ed ate a large fillet.  Just managed to get our order in before two huge crowds of people.

Afterwards stopped off for a pint in a pub on the way back to the grassmarket area, in the area known as the pubic triangle because of the number of lap dancing clubs.  Very good selection of beers, including some beers flavoured with fruit.  Some very drunk mature Norwegian nurses from a conference attempted to pick both Ed and I up.  Hastily retreated to Whistle Binkies to listen to a band.

Edinburgh

Blasdale Home Posted on by

Back in Edinburgh for 3 days and 2 nights.  The sun has at last decided to shine, and on Tuesday evening people were even dining out on the streets.  In fact with the ban on smoking I think there were more people on the street then in the pubs. 

Paid my usual visit to the Petit Paris where I indulged in a three course meal, but no wine.  Free wine in my hotel room afterwards.  Such a good customer at the hotel I get free drinks.

Tuesday I went to  McKirdy’s Steakhouse on Morrison Street.  Never been there before, was recommended in some magazine we get.  Not cheap, but very good steaks.  I had fillet steak with haggis and a whisky source.  Ed ate a large fillet.  Just managed to get our order in before two huge crowds of people.

Afterwards stopped off for a pint in a pub on the way back to the grassmarket area, in the area known as the pubic triangle because of the number of lap dancing clubs.  Very good selection of beers, including some beers flavoured with fruit.  Some very drunk mature Norwegian nurses from a conference attempted to pick both Ed and I up.  Hastily retreated to Whistle Binkies to listen to a band.

Birthday meal

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Today was Rosemarys’ birthday, so we decided to have a meal at Carluccio’s in Bicster village.  Carol and John Curd came along to comiserate with Rosemary and I.

I think we had the following:

NIBBLES

SAVOURY BREAD TIN Our own focaccia, grissini, Ligurian ciappe and sliced breads served with either butter or extra virgin olive oil.

BOWL OF OLIVES

STARTERS

ANTIPASTO DI SALUMI (Steve) Speciality cured meats including fennel salami, spinata romana and our Milano salami served with caper berries.

SICILIAN ARANCINI DI RISO (Rosemary) 2 crispy deep fried rice balls. One filled with melting mozzarella and one with meat ragù. Served with pepolata; red pepper sauce.

MOZZARELLA ISCHITANA (John & Carol) Mozzarella and roasted red an yellow peppers and tomatoes with basil and extra virgin oil.

MAINS

OSSOBUCO ALLA MILANESE (John, Carol and Rosemary) Braised shin of veal with tomato sauce and saffron risotto.

CALVES LIVER (Steve) Braised shin of veal with tomato sauce and saffron risotto.

The Old Trout

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Went out for a meal with Selina and Graham at the Old Trout in Thame. Stayed there most of the evening.  The meal we had was good, not excellent, I suppose because it was from the Telegraph special.

The place was reasonably busy, some tables being used more than once during the evening. Service was generally prompt but not intrusive.

Petit Blanc

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Today, thought we would treat ourselves to lunch in Oxford, using the Pear Tree park & ride.  Rosemary as usual insisted we had the front two offside seats on the upper deck of the double decker “ride” bus.  First stop was the Ashmolean Museum to see a temporary exhibition called Spectacular Miracles: Images of Supernatural Power.  Umm, to us a very odd exhibition of recent photographs of statues and pictures believed to be capable of supernatural powers, from shrines in and near the city of Genoa.  I am afraid Oxford does not do temporary exhibitions as well as the Cambridge where we both saw an excellent exhibition of illuminated manuscripts back in September at the Fitzwilliam.

We arrived at Petit Blanc for our luncheon.  A very slim, cute, French waitress seated us.  This being the festive season, their good value menu prix fixe was not available, being replaced with a Christmas menu.  We decided to eat off their a la carte menu.

We started with an aperitif of Ricard, while we studied and dithered over the menu.  Rosemary started with the Bleu des Basques cheese, chicory and pear salad, and I am always tempted by terrine, so had to have the foie gras, Lincolnshire pork and Armagnac prune terrine with apple chutney.  These dutifully arrived on their white bowls (to our great glee, because they were rather like the ones we just lashed out on) and were consumed with great gusto.  Rosemary is definitely going to try to make the salad at home.

For the main dish, Rosemary selected char grilled Lincolnshire pork escalope with harrissa & lemon butter (which she promptly got down her jumper, having threatened me with dire consequences should I be so careless), while I had pan-fried calves liver, sage & shallot mousseline with pan juices.  The liver was cooked rare and was delicious, a special treat as I very rarely have liver at home.

We finished together with crème caramel and espresso coffee and after paying walked back to Oddbins to buy some fizzy GF Cavalier wine for the festive season.