Dinner and a Movie

Dark Shadows, Dark Dinner
When: May 2012
Where: Imli (SoHo) and Empire Leicester Square
Imli

Dinner and a movie, for me two of the things that make my world go around.  If I were to make a film it would be in the style of Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes.  This night out was a way to escape the dreaded nail biting Champions League Final.  Last time in 2008 I shouldn't have been watching, we should have been out doing dinner but the Roman weather forced us to stay in the hotel and everyone suffered...  This time round it was dinner and a movie, two of my favourite things to enjoy and then I could check the scores at the end of the film and celebrate or commiserate depending on the result.  Things started off well as the bus got us to the West End in record time.  Our driver was not a patient man and beeped and swerved his away through town taking no prisoners, it was just like being in India all over again but this time with a little more restraint on the horn.  This set us up nicely for Imli, a modern Indian restaurant.  I really like Indian food and as my partner had been before and quite liked it my expectations were fairly high.  However, our first problem was that she liked the set meals but these were only on at lunch time and we had arrived in the evening.  Secondly our friend booked online and after looking online I noticed you could get a free dessert if you booked online, she hadn't noticed...  Oh well, things can only get better.

We were shown to a nice quiet and decent sized table at the back corner of the restaurant and ordered some drinks.  One of our friends seems to have got into cocktails which is nice as I'm now not the only one to order an alcoholic drink when we go out.  I wasn't feeling too hungry so I shared the Tandoori Mixed Grill  -  Chicken, Fish, Lamb and Paneer with Dal and Naan Bread. This looked like being more than enough and it was.  I love good tandoori food and after having an amazing Tandoori meal in Orchha in India I am hooked for life.  Our friends ordered a mix of dishes from the menu.  Service was good and our waiter was trying hard with some "money saving" upsells.  The food arrived and I was a little disappointed, I think in part because my eyes are greedier than my stomach.  We had one piece of each of the dishes and a bowl of thinish and difficult to share Dal.  The lamb was very good, but was really only a bite as it was a tandoori lamb chop.  The chicken was bland and only just cooked, the paneer was ok, the bread was ok and the dal was ok.  I don't really eat fish but my partner enjoyed it.  The meal was at least filling and we washed it down with some coffees and Masala Chai.  I think I've now become a little stuck in my ways with Indian food.  I find a place I like and keep coming back, again and again and again...  It will take something special to prise me away from the Star Of Bombay on Westbourne Grove or Nayaab off Parsons Green.

Dark Shadows (Tim Burton, 2012)
It seems these days every Tim Burton film is the same with Johnny Depp playing some kind of ageless monster trying to claw back a life that cannot be lived anymore.  Sometimes you have to grow up and move on, Scorsese manages this in Hugo, albeit leaving America to do so as we watch someone who has hit rock bottom get built up and given one last day of glory, rather than be spat out by the American Dream gone bad.  Anyway, getting back to Burton, at his best his creepy Depp led films are fantastic pieces of fantasy with amazing performances and a believable world portrayed well enough for you to completely suspend your disbelief.  At worst there's Alice in Wonderland, worse than that is Alice in Wonderland in 3D...

Dark Shadows is a simple love story with a nice contrast in the narrative.  The Collins family escape Victorian England for a better life in the new world where they see their fishing business go from strength to strength.  The young Barnabas will one day inherit the family fortune which is not only the business but the town where they landed which is named Collinstown in their honour and the large family house filled with wealth and secret passages.  However, life is not so easy as Barnabas has an affair with Angelique who's family are servants to the Collins family.  Barnabas likes her body but doesn't love her as a person and in a fit of jealousy she turns to magic forcing Josette, his wife to be to commit suicide and turns him into a vampire who is locked away in a coffin as a freak of nature.

Time passes and Barnabas is dug up and is very much alive but he does not fit well with the modern world.  He fights to restore his family to their former glory but finds Angelique through various guises has made sure to do everything in her power to thwart the Collins family and their business out of revenge.  The two battle it out as Barnabas wants to move on in his personal life whilst rebuilding his family to what it used to be and find true love again and Angelique who whilst moving on professionally has not moved on personally and is still, 200 years later unable to accept that Barnabas might want to have sex with her but doesn't love her.

History repeats itself but this time Barnabas is ready and although he doesn't manage to stop his new love plunging off the cliff, she becomes a vampire and they live quirkily ever after whilst Angelique ends up a broken woman (literally).  Although it may not be the greatest story of all time the acting and casting in Dark Shadows is fantastic and for me made it all worth while.  It was nice for the day to finish on a high.  An enjoyable night at the movies followed by a Champions League victory on my phone to read about on the journey home, whilst my ears rung from a THX induced evening.

BBC Studio Tour

This is the BBC!
When: April 2012
Where:  BBC Television Centre, White City

Sometimes it's easy to forget about the things close to home and as the old song goes, "You don't know what you got till it's gone".  With that in mind we decided to book a tour of BBC's Television Centre before it is sold off and possibly shut down.  On a rainy afternoon we made the short journey to White City and began the tour.  I was looking forward to see a live, living, breathing workplace filled to the brim with memories and perhaps a show being filmed.  We were one of the last to arrive at the reception area where we were warmly greeted and handed our BBC Tours identity tag.  We were met by two bright young guides who led us back out into the rain to go through security and then up to a nice little photo op if you are a fan of either Dr. Who of The Voice. I am not a fan of either but it was still a good ice breaker.

Our first stop proper was the news room area.  Most of the filming is no longer done in London but is instead done in Manchester and the majority of the journalists don't work in the news room at the weekends as news rarely breaks at the weekend (mostly it's just sports headlines like Chelsea spanking QPR - YAY!) I did enjoy watching the news tickers they had and I was also unaware that the BBC is the largest news gathering agency in the world ahead of CNN and Reuters.  It was also interesting to know that the BBC only used fully paid up journalists for their news shows rather than TV presenters and this meant that those who read the news could also interview (or often interrogate) their guests to a high and critical standard that was not possible in the past.

We then walked over to the original main entrance to Television Centre where we learned that the circular design of the building was both to compensate for the odd shape of the land and also that it made it very easy to walk from one studio to the next across the atrium in the middle.  The entrance is a listed building and will be preserved in someway when the building is eventually sold.
After that it was on to an actual studio, this studio was the one used to film Strictly Come Dancing, however on this occasion it was empty.  The most interesting part of this section of the tour was that for reasons of cost they would build the set and dismantle it weekly for this show due to the cost of renting out the studio.  The level of detail that goes into setting up a studio is quite frightening and even as someone who likes to think they know a bit about film and TV, from the lighting, soundproofing, flooring and the reason why the walls are painted black!

It was then time to visit the MOTD studios, except it was just a replica as Match of the Day was now shot at the Manchester studios, you could sit and have your photo taken but it didn't feel quite right to do so with a replica set.  Interestingly it seemed as though Channel 5 now shoots its football show here instead.  In fact from walking around it seemed most of the shows shot here were not for the BBC.

Up next was the weather area, this was actually pretty interesting as the studios for the forecast are fully automated and the presenters are all fully trained meteorologists who write and present their own material.  Also they are standard civil servants rather than private employees of the BBC and have contracts and a working day that reflect this.  The forecasters also work across media (TV, Radio and Online) as well.  We got to watch a forecast being delivered and had a little fun with a green screen!

The penultimate stage of our tour was visiting some of the green rooms or dressing rooms where stars are kept before a show.  There are different types of dressing room depending on the star's status, apparently Prince, Jennifer Lopez and James Brown had some of the most interesting demands.  The stories were more exciting than the dressing rooms which were a little crowded for a group of 20+

The final stage was where we got to see the magic happen, four lucky (or unlucky) souls got to participate in a spot of Weakest Link and a News Broadcast for the rest of us to enjoy and watch.  After this it was time to say our good byes as we exited through the gift shop.  In all a fun but slightly underwhelming way to spend a few hours.  At least there was a trip to Wahaca to follow which as usual did not disappoint.  In all the tour did not quite meet my expectations.  I was hoping to see a little more action, but it seems everyone has moved up to Manchester where the new Media Village is whilst Television Centre was cutting edge in its day, HD, the Internet and 24 hour TV have slowly made it obsolete.  Whilst it was not the most exciting afternoon out ever it was worth it to see what would soon be a piece of history.

Frisco Food

Dining Delights in San Francisco
When: April 2012
Where: SF, California

Somehow food keeps tasting better away from home and this trip was no exception.  Following on from my top five ingredients for a good meal out, there were a couple of places from our recent trip to San Francisco that fit the bill of getting my ingredients just right.  Best of all the first two were a five minute walk from one another!  Thanks to the Internet it seems the days of needing a guide book for visiting the USA are well and truly numbered with Trip Advisor, Flyertalk and Chowhound all giving a range of bespoke and up to the minute options that guide books cannot compete with.

Bodega Bistro

This Vietnamese restaurant is located on Larkin and Eddy and from the outside doesn't look overly enticing.  However, once through the doors it became evident we were on to a winner.  Service was warm and friendly and seemed to be even warmer and friendly to the regulars.  My beer was icy cold as was the table water, just the way I like it.  The speciality here is Pho, which is a noodle soup with various toppings.  We started off with some spring rolls and then I went for the Pho Bodega sur Demande - rare steak fillet slices, well-done brisket and beef meatball combination in a rice noodle soup.  This was both refreshing and filling and by the end I was too stuffed to think about dessert.  I found this place on Chowhound and I certainly would not have found it on my own with it being tucked away from the main tourist areas of San Francisco.  This meal was a great start to the trip, perfect company and a relaxed atmosphere.  The food was tasty and slightly exotic, fitting perfectly with being on holiday and the service to go with it was just right.  Bodega Bistro was also a bit of a bargain and quality wise was at worst on par with other reasonably priced restaurants and made a nice change of emphasis from the usual Chinese/Japanese Asian food that we normally have back home in the UK.

Bodega Bistro 607 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA.


Brenda's French Soulfood

Just across the road from Bodega Bistro lies Brenda's French Soulfood restaurant.  Another reasonably priced restaurant serving food that is not often seen in the UK.  We ate here for brunch on our first morning in San Francisco and it was truly amazing.  There was a small queue and to save your place in line you write your name and number of guests on the chalkboard by the door and wait for a free table.  Service felt warm and welcoming to the first time visitor as well as the regulars and we were soon sat down with menus and coffee. I went with the Egg & Bacon Tartine:  Bacon, scrambled eggs, gruyère & tomato-bacon relish on toasted french roll, with choice of grits or hash.  I ordered the hash but I ended up with the grits.  The food was really, really good and probably the most interesting of the many cooked breakfasts we had on this trip.  I still don't know what to make of grits, they feel/taste like mashed potato meets rice pudding and I ended up layering mine with tomato ketchup.  My partner went with the butter milk pancakes with fruit.  The best tip I can give for eating here is to allow for the fact that the food is tasty and filling, if you come for breakfast you won't want lunch.  You could probably just do brunch here and be full enough to see you through till the end of the day.  I wish I could open a version of Brenda's near me just so I could go whenever I wanted.

Brenda's French Soulfood 625 Polk Street, San Francisco CA.


Pied Piper Bar

At the time this place was a bit of an afterthought and a way of maxing out AMEX's Fine Hotels and Resorts program benefits.  The reviews were pretty mixed but the gamble paid off.  The Pied Piper is located at the Palace Hotel just off the financial district in San Francisco and they looked after us really well, an amazing room upgrade and a lovely breakfast in the beautiful old world Garden Court.  The Palace is famous for  "old world" luxury and is one of the oldest hotels in San Francisco.  The Pied Piper Bar is famous for the multi-million dollar Maxfield Parrish painting that hangs above the bar telling the story of the Pied Piper.  The rest of the bar is all dark wood, low lights and big screen TVs showing sports.  The crowd contrasts as much as the TVs do with the art work, this is my kind of place to sit and have a drink.  Seeing as we had $100 to spend we started with some cocktails which were excellent, fair play to anyone who can blend absinthe and whiskey into a martini glass and make it both refreshing and easy to drink.  As we had spent the last few days getting bloated on the best beef Las Vegas has to offer, it was time for something a little lighter and certainly less rich.  I ended up with a club sandwich which was filled with freshly cooked warm chicken breast, my partner went with the signature Pied Piper salad that was overloaded with King Prawns.  Service was perfectly in tow with the surroundings, casual in conversation but executed with formal precision.  Whilst this may not be to everyone's taste it was the right place at the right time and as we found out the next night that's a really important thing.

The Pied Piper Bar 2 New Montgomery Street  San Francisco, CA 94105, United States


Campton Place Restaurant

Just up the road from the Palace we spent our last night at the Taj Campton Place for a luxurious end to our trip.  The problem with that is that the more you spend the higher the expectations.  Campton Place recently won its first Michelin star, so added to that was the expectation that the food would be good too.  Service here is very formal, though the staff try to enjoy themselves and bring some personality to their work, but with a little fine tuning they could get the balance perfect, though maybe this is hard given the type of restaurant and the ever-changing clientèle.  We ate here for breakfast and dinner.  The sad thing to see was that the restaurant was barely half full on the Saturday night we were there.  I imagine this is due to the wealth of dining options in San Francisco.  I think the issue I have with my limited experience of higher end restaurants is that many aim for perfection and don't quite make it with every aspect.  There normally seems to be one course that's not quite right, or the atmosphere of the place that takes something that would have been perfectly fine in a slightly cheaper restaurant and ends up amplifying the imperfections.  Unusually it was not the starter that was the let down here.  My spicy lentil soup with crab was delicious, lightly spicy but not so much as to overpower the crab.  My rabbit three ways was good, though the rack of rabbit looked like it could have been cooked a little longer and I actually enjoyed the rabbit kidneys, which I was not expecting.  I cannot remember my dessert, it was good and it was not chocolate which is rare for me, but it doesn't stick in the mind like the pistachio soufflé I had at Castle Terrace in Edinburgh that nearly caused a "wafer thin mint" style explosion from over-eating.

Breakfast the next morning was great.  The service was a little over the top but the food was first rate.  Fresh juice, fresh coffee and a really tasty cooked breakfast, just far too much of it.  It was a shame there was not British style bacon, I really don't go for the American bacon the same way that I like bacon back at home.  In all for the money spent, our meal at the Taj wasn't quite worth it, though I'm sure for others it would be. Perhaps trying the tasting menu or getting a special offer which from reading online seems like something they do from time to time would be the way to go.

Campton Place 340 Stockton Street, San Francisco, California 94108, U.S.A.

The Perfect Meal?

The Perfect Meal? - Le 7 
When - March 2012
Where - Le 7, Valence, France


There are a number of ingredients to my perfect meal but it is rare they all come together at the same time.  However, a few months ago whilst in France that was just the case.  We were celebrating my girlfriend's birthday with her family.  That meant ingredient one was already here, the right company.  As this was a big birthday we ended up going somewhere a little fancier then we would usually go and it was a really great choice, Le 7.   My second ingredient is of course the right place for the occasion.  Le 7 is famous for being the less costly sister restaurant of the famous three  Michelin star Pic located next door.  A pretty good choice if I may say so!  The third ingredient is service, we were warmly welcomed and shown to our seats, service was friendly, though perhaps a little brisk but it was also flexible enough to accommodate a vegetarian meal for one of our party despite the restaurant not offering one on the menu.  The fourth and often the most important ingredient is the food itself, which I will discuss shortly.  My penultimate ingredient is value for money, did you get what you pay for?  How did this restaurant compare with others at the same price point?  My final ingredient is how memorable the overall experience was.  Will this meal be forgettable, remembered fondly, or am I hoping to never return again?




Le 7 is a modern French bistro restaurant with tables packed closely together and a fast paced service.  The menu follows the theme of a culinary road trip across France from north to south.  After being seated on a nice table in the corner of the dining room we were given some complementary bread in a paper bag, which was very tasty.  After all no good French meal is complete without fresh bread on the side!  We followed the 30 Euro per person three course set menu which we washed down with a bottle of Argentinian Malbec that I sadly forget the name of.  Lunch started off with an amuse bouche of bread and hummus which was delicious. We then moved on to our starter of Pumpkin Soup with Coffee.  



The soup was smooth and velvety with a nice hint of coffee running through it, everything was just right with this course.



To follow the soup I had the Shoulder of Lamb with Seasonal Vegetables.  The lamb was soft, tender and slightly pink in the centre.  The vegetables were finely diced and melted magnificently in the mouth together with sauce.  There were some quiet complaints that the sauce was a touch too salty, but for me it was perfect. 



After that perfect main I had a feeling of contentment inside.  We had a short rest from the food and then it was time for dessert.  I went with the Chocolate Finger which was a sweet, dark, reinvention of the Black Forest Gateaux with a scoop of refreshing raspberry sorbet served on the side.

All good things must come to an end and lunch was sadly over. I have to say all the ingredients had mixed together nicely.  We had good company and a great place for this special occasion.  Service was a little brisk but it did not hamper our lunch one bit.  The value for money was excellent, it's very easy to spend £20-£25 per person on lunch/dinner and end up with an underwhelming meal.  At Le 7  the food was great across each course and I only wish I could eat this well and at this price so close to home here in London, hopefully my quest will not be in vain!  I won't forget this meal any time soon and hopefully we can go back again.  If you ever happen to be in this part of France than a visit to Le 7 should certainly be added to your itinerary, unless of course you can afford the three star restaurant next door!

Pic Valence - 285 avenue Victor Hugo, 26000 Valence - Drome
              Tel. +33 4 75 44 15 32

Festival Fun!

Dark Horse (Todd Solondz, 2011)
Where: London Film Festival: Vue West End
When: 16th October 2011

I was looking forward to this film, but at the same time a little sad that I could not also go and see the 3D samurai movie in the screening downstairs.  However, a dose of Todd has always worked wonders in the past.  Back then in my awkward, space filling teenage years a dose of Todd was a good excuse to see how quickly I could get my step mum to not watch the film I was seeing, a small rebellion of sorts and plenty of harmless fun.  So thank you Todd for those happy times with Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness, truly fun moments spent laughing at my family over and over again.  So what did Dark Horse have in store for me?

I knew I was on to a winner from the credits, the blingy lettering for the titles, the reality TV talent show music, this was going to be my kind of comedy.  The credits cut to a Jewish wedding complete with wall to wall drunken dancing until we reach our protagonists table.  Our man Abe (Jordan Gelber) tries to chat up the woman sitting next to him Miranda (Selma Blair) (who we later find out is not much better off than Abe!), he tells her he doesn't dance (I know the feeling...) and then jumps straight in and asks her out.  All that was missing was a small pop up Charlie Brooker doing his Hannah Montana impression, "Awkward", "Loser."  We then cut to the end of the wedding and we see Abe pursing Miranda once more at the cloakroom and manages to extract her phone number from her using a mix of pity and persistence.  We then see Abe drive away in his bright yellow Hummer, music blaring.

We learn more about Abe, maybe we wish we hadn't.  His father has a  real estate business and Abe works for him (well, work is a loose definition - it's more like sit at his desk and then storm off the second he's asked to do any work).  Abe's life is surrounded by his possessions, his car, his action figures and his posters and he has Mum and Dad with him wherever he goes.  At work and at home it is his actual father Jackie (played by the excellent as ever Christopher Walken).  At work his mother is played by the secretary, Marie (Donna Murphy)  who does Abe's work for him and is part of Abe's mixed up fantasy world.  At home he plays and takes great pleasure in beating his real mother, Phyllis (Mia Farrow) at backgammon.

Moving on to Abe's first date with Miranda, again arranged with his own force of will and her inability to say no he drives off in his Hummer, music blaring as usual to her house.  He arrives with a bunch  petrol station flowers in his hand only to find Miranda's mother answers the door and has no knowledge of him arriving.  Instead of cutting his losses and going home he sits in his car and waits, complete with awkward gesturing to Miranda's mother until Miranda shows up loaded up groceries with not the faintest idea that he was coming over.  Miranda is set up well in the film so far.  We are initially made to think of her as a normal and attractive woman that is going through a hard time in her life who lives with her parents till she gets back on her feet.  However, we soon get the impression that she is much like Abe in many ways, especially when she tells Abe that she plans to stop being a writer and slitting her wrists and he asks for her hand in marriage despite them hardly knowing each other.  If ever you're feeling a little off kilter with the rest of the world there's one easy question to ask yourself to see how bad it really is.  Would I exist as a character in a Todd Solondz film?  You just better hope the answer is not yes!

Once again time passes, it feels like it may have been months, in fact it is only a week and Miranda has agreed to meet with Abe at the family home.  As Miranda doesn't drive she comes over with her parents and the adults have an enthralling conversation about the traffic and road works whilst the "kids" are talking together in the room. Miranda agrees to marry Abe as long as he doesn't mind about the hepatitis B (which Abe later looks up on You Tube) and her ex Mahmood from Dubai.  Abe is pretty happy at this point.  His ego fuelled by lust and diet coke gets into a fight with his father that any teenager would be proud of.  Abe quits his job after being criticised for not doing his work on time, although he his soon back at work only to be fired by his father and replaced by his cousin who "does what he's told".  The result is that Abe storms out of the office and drives off in his Hummer, tears in his eyes and rage in his heart.

We hear a crash and a screech of tires but Todd has a twist for us which is what helps make this a great film and not just an amusing story/commentary of the modern condition.  The use of repetition, both visually and one lovely song that plays out help confuse our sense of time.  We are not sure whether it is years, days or months that are passing us by.  Additionally Abe likes to fantasise about an affair with the Mia the secretary and the life he imagines she leads.  At times like this it feels like we are Abe and a little out of the loop, except perhaps during his trip to Toys R Us, but that one I wont spoil for you!  We next find Abe in the hospital waking up after a few months in a coma.  He says he feels like dancing, we know he's lost his legs. Miranda arrives and says she's been cured of her hepatitis  and she's expecting a child.  It's pretty obvious it is not Abe's child to everyone but Abe.  Since being cured of her hepatitis Miranda has found a new lease of life, she is now dating Abe's successful brother Richard (Justin Bartha) who Abe detests and his cousin Justin (Zachery Booth) who has replaced him at work now has the affection of Marie.  The next time we see Abe he's looking a rather yellow, "The chances of losing both legs in a car crash and contracting hepatitis are about a billion to one," he says.

Cruelty doesn't pass with Abe's passing.  At his funeral he is humiliated when Richard tells his Father that the date of Abe's death is wrong.  To which he replies that the detail is not important after Abe continually tells us throughout the film he has a thing for dates and numbers.  As we draw to a close Abe returns to his house where he looks at the lines on the wall where he and Richard were measured growing up, peeling back the wallpaper he finds his Dad has written that he was the dark horse of the family and in death he realises that perhaps he was wrong about everything after all.  We finish with our secretary day dreaming of the life Abe says he expected her to, ghastly wallpaper, music, stuffed animals and musicals, rather than the sex, fine art and Ferrari's we saw during the rest of the film.

Sadly it looks like Dark Horse may not get much of a release outside of the festival circuit which is a great shame as it is funny, topical and very well directed.  It was funny like a top notch Coen Brothers comedy and also very accessable.  I really hope this gets picked up so more people can experiance what a great film I got to see last night.  Apparently we can go nag the distributors on twitter and "like" the film on Facebook.  I'm sure Abe would if he were still alive.

Eating Edinburgh

A Search For Unforgettable Food

When: May 2011

Where: Edinburgh, Scotland

Call it luck, call it planning but on a recent trip to Edinburgh I really wanted to eat quality food in a nice environment. I know that shouldn't be hard but meal after meal of forgettable food in London for less than reasonable prices proved me wrong. I can count on one hand the amount of genuinely good meals out I've had in London during the last 18 months. This coupled with some poor planning on a trip to Hamburg made me determined to make the most of Edinburgh. So taking to the web and to the guidebooks it was time to do some serious research. Thanks to FlyerTalk, TripAdvisor and The Rough Guide to Scotland all was planned. I also linked the places up to where we were visiting at that time of the day for the best of both worlds. So here goes!

I'm writing this post as an antidote to all the forgettable food I've been eating in London over the last 18 months: for all the luke-warm service, bland menus, boring food and poor value for money I have been encountering lately. I can probably count only a couple of times when I have been surprised by the quality of the food/service I have had. This coupled with ending up at a McDonalds at Hamburg train station due to my poor dinner planning during a trip there made me determined not to do the same for this trip to Edinburgh. So this time I planned everything to the finest detail including the food. I was armed and dangerous and ready for good food.

Day 1 - Foodies at Holyrood (Ideal for Holyrood House and the Scottish Parliament)

I found Foodies in The Rough Guide to Scotland, it is located a five minute walk from the Scottish Parliament and is the perfect place to grab a light (or less light if you prefer) lunch. Clean, friendly and inexpensive. I had a jacket potato with cheese and beans, my partner had a Tuna Melt panini, both washed down with fruit juice and a decent cup of coffee. It was a perfect cheap lunch out after a long journey and with a long trek around Holyrood Park to come later on it set us up perfectly for the day.

Hadrian's Brasserie (Balmoral Hotel - Ideal for relaxing after an afternoon walking round Holyrood Park)

Having a package deal we had money to spend at the hotel which pretty much covered a three course meal with wine. Service was efficient and friendly (with the small exception of the slightly over eager lady trying to get us to spend extra on aperitif drinks). To drink we had a nice bottle of Côte du Rhône which helped to wash down the bread. We both had egg florentines for starters which were light and perfectly cooked and followed up with lamb for our mains which again was just right. I finished up with a Crème brûlée and my partner had the profiteroles. Good food, nice service and ambiance, though I will remember the hotel more than the meal.


Day 2: Wildfire (Perfect after visiting the National Galleries of Scotland)

Wildfire cross-referenced nicely on both TripAdvisor and FlyerTalk. It specialises in steak and seafood and it did not disappoint. It is a small restaurant located at the end of Rose Street. We went for the 2 course lunch menu for about £12 each and shared a large bottle of local beer between us. I had pâté to start (I seemed to be obsessed with having pâté as a starter) and this one was particularly good. My partner had a large pot of mussels which she was very pleased with, even finishing up most of the broth! Then came the mains, steak and chips, a simple dish and perfect if done right, how often more than likely it wont be. At Wildfire I had the best piece of steak I have ever eaten (and this was just the cheaper rump steak from the lunch menu). Soft on the inside and lubricated with delicious garlic butter, a perfect medium all the way through - this is now my benchmark for steak. I hope I don't have to go back to Wildfire again to have a better one, as Edinburgh's a long way away! Chips were thin and crunchy and just right. After that we were too stuffed to contemplate dessert, all the more so after knowing what was in store later on. Service was steady and polite.

Castle Terrace (Perfect for visiting after the Theatre, Edinburgh Filmhouse or Edinburgh Castle)

So I wanted somewhere special for an anniversary celebration. This was the choice I was most worried about and due to the cost it had to be pretty good. It almost lived up to the billing thanks to the excellent mains and desserts. Anyway, a short cab ride from our hotel, Castle Terrace is found close to the the Theatre district and Edinburgh's Filmhouse. It is an upmarket fine dining restaurant with ambition. The food is Modern European with a French influence and firmly Scottish ingredients through and through. Things started well, the restaurant acknowledged our anniversary, we had a nice table in the corner, with a little privacy away from some of the ever so slightly drunken office workers with their loud conversations. To start things off I had a glass of champagne and my partner had a Kir with white wine. The free appetisers included bread sticks with a twist. They were presented in the style of an incense holder and consisted of some squid ink pasta, bread sticks and some small cheese filled bites. Tasty and a good way to get started. To drink I had chosen a glass of Rioja and my partner had decided to go for a glass of Italian white wine. I had the rabbit ravioli and my partner had the scallops. The ravioli actually reminded me of a super refined version of the won ton soup I used to buy in a can (this was mostly a good thing); the scallops were apparently very good. Next was a small amuse bouche in the style of a cappuccino which was lovely and refreshing; complete with foam, tapenade and finely diced tomatoes. Then came the mains: this was where the fun began. I had the Beef which was a Hampe of Scotch beef, seared and served with potato millefeuille, tomatoes, curly endive and a beef jus. This was a huge plate of perfectly cooked sliced beef served on a bed of endives. The millefeuille consisted of wafer thin slices of potato with a puréed tomato filling. Very filling and very good, even after that steak at Wildfire for lunch. My partner had the rabbit which was Rabbit from Roxburghshire, wrapped in Ayrshire smoked bacon and served with crisp pastilla, carrots and a caper sauce. The whole dish was presented like a little rabbit garden with little carrots, a fence, a hole etc. Apparently it was very good though the bacon was a little overpowering and the design was a little creepy. Finally to wash it all down was a super dessert. For me it was one of the best I have ever had, a pistachio soufflé, light, fluffy and warm, there was no way a single bite of this was going to waste even though I was completely stuffed. My partner had the apples with ice cream which she enjoyed, though she found it a little bit too sweet (and she's normally one to love her sweetness!). Espressi were very much in need at this point. So what stopped this being a five star experience? It was the drinks... I think our sommelier or the barman was having an off night. Revisiting the website I saw a lovely cocktail menu for aperitifs which I dion't recall seeing at the restaurant, instead we were left with the regular menu. I would have much preferred to try one of the Martinis then a glass of champagne. Secondly the sommelier was slow to get to our drinks order and did not introduce himself as the sommelier, so by that time we had already chosen what we wanted. I'm sure our meal would have been that little bit better with some wine advice and the full menu. In all this was a good meal that could have been truly great, you could taste what you were paying for, the service (with the exception of the drinks) was first rate and again, I would like to go back and eat there again. It was then off into the cold night air for a refreshing walk back to the hotel.

Day 3: La Garrigue (Ideal for the Old Town and the many walking tours)


So we finished our time in Edinburgh with a French restaurant with a Scottish twist. La Garrigue got a lot of good press for being mentioned as one of Ramsay's best restaurants. It was also all over TripAdvisor and FlyerTalk etc and with a well priced lunch menu it was the perfect way to round off the trip. I had a warming leek and potato soup, my partner had the onion tart. For the mains I had some lamb with lentils and my partner had the sea bream with wild rice. For dessert we had Crème brûlée. The food was all excellent with the exception of the Crème brûlée which was not quite set, but the flavour was all there. The atmosphere in the restaurant was really great with a real mix of diners, including charming regulars. Service was polite, efficient and non-intrusive. We wanted a relaxing lunch after the previous night at Castle Terrace and we got just that.


In Conclusion

I can't believe how many amazing set lunch bargains there are in Edinburgh, and also how little the chains have set in compared to London (though maybe I need to spend the same amount of time researching the options for London as I did for Edinburgh). If you like to eat well with great service and value for money the above options give you some ideas but of course, we really just scratched the surface during our stay.


Further Reading

La Garrigue


Wildfire

I can't Hear from all the Screaming in the Gallery

Basquiat

When: 26/12/2010

Where: Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris

There are many ways to spend Boxing Day: lounging in front of the TV, filling up on leftovers, the sales etc. However, though I can do all of those things I'd much rather be expanding my mind and my experience of the world with an art exhibition, so here goes. It was a cold and icy day yet the queue for the gallery was stretching round the block a little but moving fast. Once in and warmed up it was time to start and thankfully although busy there was enough space for contemplation. The exhibition started with early works. If paintings played music, shouted and screamed then you were in heaven. For a moment you found yourself in early '80s New York, Hip Hop, noisy Subway trains, rubbish and people shouting and screaming. For me this was one of the best parts of the exhibition and I found it very stimulating.

The next section of the exhibition concentrated on diagrams, notes and plans. I found these complemented the main pieces extremely well. The notes and diagrams helped you to see the order and meticulous planning involved in the various pieces as well as pick up on the meaning behind the recurring themes. I spent a lot of time looking at all the details and found it incredibly worthwhile.

The final section of work consisted of some of Basquiat's final pieces including a collaboration with Andy Warhol. I did not enjoy any of the work in the final section. The noise had gone from the art and it had been replaced with the quiet of the gallery and the flatness of a magazine cover. Instead I could feel the clink of the champagne glasses. I just didn't get it anymore. Sadly Basquiat died young so we never got to see where he could have ended up with his work and talent which is a terrible shame.

In addition to the Basquiat exhibition there was also a short exhibition of Larry Clark's photos. Although the man has his critics the photos were on the whole very beautiful and still looked and felt as current as ever. Clark really catches the vulnerability of youth along with its confidence and innocence both in his films and photography and this exhibition was no different. It felt like looking through the glossy urban fashion magazines of my late teens and all the emotions that came with those times. In all I had a fantastic Boxing Day beating a combination of bad TV and the family walk many times over.