On Saturday Rosemary and I visited the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon. We were accompanied by the Cambridge Society who had organised a guided tour, lunch and a talk “Bill and Biggles Flies Again” about both Capt WE Johns and his most famour creation, Biggles.
My last week with the bank
I spent what could be my last week with the bank for a while. Though I expect to be back again . Not a lot happened. I did visit a few restaurants.
Ate at the Mussel and Steak, and had yet again a very good rare sirloin steak. The large steak had not a single piece of ‘chewy meat’, and was totally tender all the way through.
Tried a new Indian restaurant called Voujon. It was quite a long walk from the hotel, aiming up Nicholson Street. The place was well lit with trendy ceiling lights, and there was not a sign of flock wallpaper (which is a shame cos R says it is now high fashion). The plates were all those modern white square dishes. The food was well-prepared, but was the same menu as most other Indian restaurants.
The other two times, I ate in the hotel. It’s about time the menu was changed. I did though visit Whistle Binkies on Thursday and saw half a set of a covers band playing Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Sex Pistols and many of the ’70s rock classics.
Slight worry about getting home. There was snow in Aylesbury, and a small sprinkling in Edinburgh. Waiting at the airport on Friday (over an hour late), I noticed all the flights to Birmingham were cancelled.
B’est – quiet
Trying new places, I decided to eat at B’est on Drummond Street. I went because Rosemary sent me the article below from The List having seen it praised in the food magazine Olive.
The full menu costs £14.95, though there is a pre-theatre £9.50 one. The place is conveniently situated near a major theatre. The £14.95 can be quickly increased. Vegetables are extra and some dishes also have a supplemental charge.
I started off with a liver au fois gras terrine. Very nice, and it came with a little tower of something tasty, which to my surprise included one floret of cauliflower.
Mains was a tower of duck breast on some square chips arranged in Jenga fashion.
Finals was chocolate flan.
All the food was very well arranged. The waitress always asked whether you enjoyed the food. The word enjoy, though seemed to be number one on her vocabulary. As she placed the food in front of you, you were commanded to Enjoy!
You could see the chef working, a small part of the restaurant being taken over by the very small kitchen. Alas there were very few people eating there, which made for a rather poor ambiance. And then there was the Abba musak.
The List review
The b’est restaurant in town? Certainly one with a pedigree. Co-owner Jim Brown’s Dock Place bistro in Leith was the first Pierre Victoire franchise in the city, and his new venture (previous site of Khushi’s) revives the PV formula of three courses for little more than the average spend on a Saturday takeaway. It opened in August 2005, and locals and students were first to catch on but increasingly busy tables show word is spreading. Three big rooms do make for a slightly unwieldy space but dark wood and Gallic bits and pieces give some of the lived-in feel of a traditional Parisian estaminet. And if some of the interior design is slightly more Disney than Dijon, it isn’t putting anybody off their seafood pot au feu. Staff are quick to catch your mood with rapid service pre-theatre, or something more leisurely if you’ve time to linger. The half dozen or so choices on offer marry French with fusion, so you might pick Thai fish balls partnered by a silky coconut dressing and crunchy fresh salad leaves followed by pan-fried chicken with classic mushroom and port cream. Pud-wise, crème brûlée or summer pudding make a competent rather than startling finish.
Outsider – George IV Bridge Edinburgh
I have been to the Outsider restaurant on George IV bridge before, many years ago with Ed and Mary. Thought I would pay it a visit on a quiet Monday. In fact I ended up eating there on Monday and Tuesday.
The restaurant is on multiple levels, and has some reasonable views of the castle through its back windows. The decor is trendy, and the clientelle (apart from moi) the same. Food prices are reasonable, quite possible to eat there for £10.
First night I ate there, I had a swordfish steak on a Japanese fish broth. I had some mashed potatoes on the side to soak up the broth. I was a little disappointed in this dish. Not sure the broth did much for the steak.
Next day I was much happier with the fish kebabs. Salmon chunks, prawns and scallops on a skewer. Augmented with a salad in pitta bread.
Definitely worth a visit. I am sure it would be very busy on a Friday. It was almost full on a winter Monday evening.
Hanam’s – Kurdish and Middle East Restaurant
Having been somewhat extravagant, and pushing the limit on my expenses, I wanted somewhere close by, i.e. on the way back to the hotel and relatively cheap. A quick scan on the Internet came up with Hanam’s nearby in Tollcross. The advertising blurb says it is Edinburgh’s first authentic Kurdish and Middle East Restaurant.
Authentic it is. No alcohol for sale, though it is a BYOB, with no corkage. The restaurant is small, and set with Ikea cutlery. It was not busy, just one Kurdish couple eating. The owner was jolly and chatted to everyone, including me. He asked why I had come, where I had seen it advertised. Later he explained about Kurdistan, how it was incorporated into Iran, Iraq, Turkey and another country.
One interesting story about how he had to provide a takeaway for 100 people in Kent, from Edinburgh!
I started off with stuffed vine leaves, and then went on to the lamb casserole. The lamb casserole, I forget its real name, was served in a deep dish with lots of vegetables, not carrots, but onion and peppers. It was served on a base of their nan bread which soaked up the juices and sauce. The flavour was quite tangy. All this was washed down with apple juice. Next time I think I will have kebabs. The couple next to be ate Kebab with the Kurdish Nan Bread which is thinner and crispier than Indian bread.
Tuesday and Wednesday in the dark in the grey city
Latish supper in the Petit Paris. You can tell it is winter, the downstairs was not in use, well it wasn’t until the party of 8 turned up.
Supper, well a boring steak. Ordered rare, slightly over cooked I think. Still red, but not totally raw in the middle which is my definition of rare. Usual 500 ml of wine to wash it down.
I thought I was meant to be meeting Mary tonight, but confusion in text messages without the punctuation meant somehow we missed each other. So anyway to the Mai Thai for my Wednesday meal. I needed their free broadband, I had quite a few large uploads and downloads to complete for a number of websites. I hate those hotels that charge, and then the free ones seem to throttle your bandwidth as well. So probably have to spend more time at the Mai Thai.
Couple of large glasses of a South African Cabernet Sauvignon and the duck. Tends to raise a laugh now when I order the same food over and over again.
No snow in Edinburgh, but I believe there were a couple of inches in Buckinghamshire.
Howies
Monday, and a normal working day started. Walked over to the Lothian Road, listening to the sweet tones of Green Day on my new toy. My whole, well almost, CD collection in a box smaller than a packet of 10 hamlets. Worked the whole day through, until well after 18.00. I am sure a sales man would say I worked until 19.00.
Eating, today is a Monday and in the Winter. So many of my favourite places are closed. The Petit Paris has its blinds firmly in place. The Mussel and Steak is in darkness, ah a sign, the establishment is under refurbishment! It’s been open only for a couple of years. So time for new places. How about Scottish fare? – there is Howies on Victoria Street.
Entered, quite empty at the moment, not surprising for a wintry Monday. Very industrial style, huge great ventilation pipes over the ceiling taking the fumes from the kitchen, large cast iron pillars in the restaurant supporting the road and houses above. Two pretty waitresses though, and some men in the kitchen. This smoking ban allows you to see the chefs, as they dash outside for a quick nicotine fix.
What did I eat? Well started off with the Cullen Skink, or as I almost said, Cullen Skunk. It had a nice smokey smell of the smoked haddock flakes, oh and one small bone.
Mains, was Borders pheasant breast wrapped in bacon on crushed potato and some cabbage. Very nice.
Afters, I missed this, went for the Scottish Illy espresso coffee.
I have to say, there seemed to be lots on the menu which would not have struck me as Scottish, such as the chili sauce, the Banoffee Pie….
Edinburgh on a Sunday
Had a call from the bank during the week. As I was working in Edinburgh for another company on Monday, would it be possible for me to work for them on the Sunday!!
Flights are a bit sparse on Sunday, so flew up to Edinburgh Saturday evening. I really think I must do this always. There was nobody in Luton airport. Just two check-ins for Easyjet, no queues. Nothing. Lovely. (Only joking, Rosemary.)
Plane late though, but with my new solid state 8Gig MP3 player (thanks, Dad!), and a book (Boris Johnson, thanks, Joan!), I was well away into fantasy land. Funny though arriving in Edinburgh, and walking through the streets to the hotel while everyone else was out in the streets shouting, laughing and enjoying themselves in a typical British City binge drinking Saturday evening manner. Oh and when some do good prissy nanny state paid employee defines binge drinking as four pints of beer, then all their credibility has gone out of the window.
Peaceful Sunday in the office working, bus station next door was even more peaceful. It was closed because the side of the building had been ripped away in the storms.
Petit Paris open for business, had their plat du jour. Black sausage starters followed by tartiflette, made from Reblochon cheese. New waitress, she comes from Angers, quite nice.
Working in the office
I had a whole week working in the office. Don’t worry, it was all chargeable work, so I am still wanted. Quite unusual being in the office, I still have a desk and nobody had thrown the contents of my pedestal out.
Quite a wild week this week. One panel of our fence blew out in the gales on Thursday. easily repaired though, just slotted it back between the concrete posts.
Sheep have arrived on our field this week, they are making good progress in eating the organic grass. So weird watching them, they have access to our field, and the field next door. They all have to be in one field or the other. Not sure what makes them move from one to the other. All this rain and wind can’t be nice for them sheep, walking across our field I noticed how deep the water was now. The whole of the field is covered in water. Everyone blames global warming for this rain, but last year there was very little rain during the winter. The field was never water logged. The pond was never full until quite late on. No matter what the weather does, it will be blamed on GW.
The Esse cooker has been giving us problems this last year. Sooted up withing two months of using it this year. We found a new company to service the cooker, but the engineer was having dreadful problems trying to make the cooker run smoke free. Lets just hope he has it cured.
The OldWalkerites
Decided it was time to entertain a few people, so we had a dinner at home on Saturday, and entertained the Curds and the Willsons to roast pheasants (one of whom was shot by David L) cooked in a Gary Rhodes style with barley in a whisky sauce.
The evening started fairly early at around 6.00 Not much point waiting around on these dark and wet winter evenings. A few G&Ts, then starters based upon a few Middle Eastern recipes. The pheasants, cheese course (Rosemary had forgotten to remove pudding from the freezer) and finally the frozen Christmas pudding ice cream.