Previously on The Blog About Nothing... in London!

  • stamaria Santa Maria
    Best Pizza in London
  • tapcoffee Tap Coffee
    Coffee time in Warren St
  • exmouthespresso Bean Review
    Exmouth Espresso Blend
  • kurobuta Kurobuta
    Japanese Tapas
  • oddonos Oddono's
    Gelato in Chiswick
  • smokehouse Smokehouse
    Mouthwatering Burgers and BBQ
  • firehouse No 197 Fire Station
    Complete disaster
  • irisandjune Iris & June
    Independent Coffee Shop in Victoria
  • coffeeguide The Not Official London Coffee Guide
    Humble take on the independent scene
  • dumdum Dum Dum Donutterie
    They don't have Cronuts but they do Cros
  • bonanza Bean Review
    Bonanza's Espresso Blend
  • moo Moo Cantina
    Lomito Time
  • chorbizarre Chor Bizarre
    Restaurant with personality
  • squaremilebelen Bean Review
    Square Mile's Belen Espresso
  • ottolenghi Ottolenghi
    Not as good as usual!
  • quantus Quantus
    European cuisine in Chiswick
  • pearlliang Pearl Liang
    About Time for a Chinese
Showing posts with label richmond. Show all posts
Showing posts with label richmond. Show all posts

The Wharf [On The Road: Teddington]

Eggs are eggs. That is very profound. By the same token you could say fish is fish. Ha ha ha! I don't think so 
George Costanza (Seinfeld episode “The Stand In”) 

I had the chance to go for dinner to The Wharf on Teddington. Lovely modern European restaurant set besides the Thames. Quiet, classic, perfect location, pictures of Duran Duran, and a pianist playing pop rock songs bringing me memories of brunch at bistrotheque. 

Scotch Egg
For starters I got Haddock and salmon scotch egg, perfectly executed, spotless. For main a beautiful black linguini with king prawns and crab. Again it was superb. 

Black Linguini
Lovely flavours, great presentation, good service, refined or you can call it posh but worthy if you’re around.

The Wharf
T: 020 8977 6333
European Cuisine
Approx Damage: £30pp
Teddington
Twitter: Wharfteddington
Wharf on Urbanspoon Square Meal


An Italian Feast

Venetian Blinds
George Costanza (Seinfeld episode “The Red Dot”)

I love Italian cuisine and there was a place in Richmond I was quite keen to visit. Al Boccon Di'Vino opened by Riccardo Grigolo originally from Venice. His place a small, cozy, with great atmosphere Venetian place. The decor based on Modigliani replicas, wine boxes, David, and the Leaning Tower will make you feel like you're in a countryside Italian homemade food restaurant. No menu policy, so you will eat what Riccardo prepared for that day, basically they come with the pan in hand and serve your food into your plate. Also no wine list, if you want wine you will get the house wine, which was quite nice by the way.

Parmigiana
We sat around 7ish and didn’t end until 11. A real Italian feast serving 11 small dishes. During our visit we got Parma ham with melon, a tomato bruschetta, peppers and grilled aubergine, aubergine parmigiana with meatballs, beef carpaccio, an amazing scallops on the shell and shrimp (the shrimp sauce was outstanding), two plates of pasta including penne arrabbiata with great heat, and a ravioli with goat cheese and a touch of mint and chocolate, then a hog that was divided and shared with every table, and at the end some chocolates and panna cotta. Just before leaving they offered an espresso and limoncello to end our fantastic evening. 

Pasta Time
Sharp flavours and aggressive seasoning I just love it. One of the best Italian restaurants in town. Just be aware that it takes 4 hours to get through the dinner, also the pace is not the best one, but in my opinion is worth the hassle, just relax and enjoy the food.

Al Boccon Di'Vino
T: 020 8940 9060
Italian Cuisine
Approx Damage: £60pp
Area: Richmond
Borough: Richmond Upon Thames
Twitter: alboccondivino
Al Boccon di'vino on Urbanspoon Square Meal


Coffee Enquiry XXXIV: Dolce Crema

You can't put a limit on my cafe lattes, it says so right here. And I don't want to get dirty looks when I come in here. If I want a cafe latte, you give me a cafe latte. And if I have any problems I'm going to get my lawyer Jackie Chiles down here and your going to be in really big trouble
Cosmo Kramer (Seinfeld episode “The Maestro”)

I have been flat hunting these days, so while in the process I bump into this nice Italian Gelateria in Barnes. Dolce Crema is a small Italian place that opened in 2011, offering tempting gelato, paninis, focaccias, and of course coffee.

Coffee Time
I got a flat white and it was great, completely unexpected, creamy, nice depth flavour of the coffee, and top marks with the latte art. Go visit if you’re in the area, in summer I will for sure get some ice cream.

Espresso Machine: La Spaziale
Beans: Agust
Score: 4/5

Dolce Crema
T: 020 8127 0988
Coffee / Gelateria
Approx Damage: £5pp
Area: Barnes
Borough: Richmond
Dolce Crema on Urbanspoon



Richmond Award Winning Pizza

So are you telling me there's not one house to rent in all of Tuscany?
Jerry Seinfeld (Seinfeld episode “The Maestro”)

The other day I was in Richmond and saw this award winning pizzeria. Pizzeria Rustica is an independent unpretentious Italian restaurant opened in 1996, Italian service, pizza, and Italian beers and wine.

Add caption
They have a good selection of pizzas, we got a calabrese and the award winning 2007. Both were decent, crunchy dough, fresh ingredients, rustic presentation, ok flavours, my favourite was the calabrese, the salame with the fresh mozzarella was really nice. Definitely not the best pizza in London but a decent one, good stop if you're hungry and want to avoid the pizza chains.

Pizza time
Pizzeria Rustica
T: 020 8332 6262
Italian Restaurant
Approx Damage: £16pp
Area: Richmond
Borough: Richmond
Pizzeria Rustica on Urbanspoon Square Meal


Chez Lindsay: Brittany cuisine for the British

A few week backs while having drinks with colleagues in Richmond, we decided to go and try French cuisine. The place Chez Lindsay, their speciality seafood and pancakes, or as they say the twin glories of Breton cooking. A selection of galettes, cider serve in boles (cups), seafood including oysters, escargots, and a wide selection of mains.

The Menu

The Place

For starters we had escargots de Bourgogne, Boudin Noir (black pudding), Huitres fines de Claire (oysters), and galette au Roquefort. As main I had the steak frites (grilled sirloin steak with fries and salad), and finally as dessert crème brulee and also tried the crepe suzette. All this while drinking wine and cider.

Boudin Noir 

Escargots

Oysters 

Galette 

Escargots

Steak Frites

Nice atmosphere, good service, French classics, decent flavours, however, the overall opinion of the table was that the entrees were much better than the mains. My main was ok, the bernaise was good, the fries were ok, and the salad was simple but excellent.

Cider 

Creme Brulee 

Crepe Suzette

French reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Strike”.

Jerry: Actually, the only place she always looked good was in that back booth over there.
George: So, just bring her here. This is all you really need.
Jerry: I can't just keep bringing her to the coffee shop. I mean, what if things, you know, progress?
George: Lights out.
Jerry: Alright, I'll give it a shot! I do really like this coffee shop. Nice cuff links, by the way.
George: Office Christmas gift. I tell you, this Human Fund is a gold mine!
Jerry: That's not a French cuff shirt, you know.
George: I know. I cut the button off and poked a hole with a letter opener.
Jerry: Oh, that's classy.

Chez Lindsay on Urbanspoon

Burger Wars Episode XXIV: Tango Burger

I came back to Gaucho with some colleagues from work. So we decided to share a couple dishes but I couldn’t resist trying the burger this time. We opened the night having empanadas, grilled provoleta cheese, a sausage platter (with Argentinean chorizo, morcilla or black pudding, chorizo picante, pinchos, and a romero pepper), lots humitas, and the Gaucho sampler (Lomo, Chorizo, Ancho, and Cuadril cuts for 1200 gms of meat).

Sausage platter

Grilled Provoleta

The sausage platter was good, the humitas excellent, the provoleta cheese not quite good, have had better ones, and the sampler was fine, juicy cuts, and good standard for England where is quite difficult to find good stakehouse.

Gaucho Sampler 

Humitas

But I try not to indulge myself too much this time with all that food as I wanted to try the burger, yes the Gaucho burger, a blend of Lomo, Chorizo, Ancho, and Cuadril, so basically was the sampler in a bun. The burger comes with a tomato, onion and chipotle chutney, Dansglad cheddar cheese, and Malbec mustard mayo, finally I decided to add a bacon into the combination.

The Gaucho Burger

Got my burger with a huge expectation, is it as good as the samplers I have tried in the past? The burger came stand alone so if you want chips you have to order them as a side.

The verdict, not good at all, I ordered medium rare and got it well done, the patty didn’t have any flavour at all to be honest, I don’t know if it was because it was overcooked or actually the blend is not appropriate for a burger, no moist or juices, the bacon was crunchy but disappointing, the cheddar was almost missing in action, to be completely honest it was a huge disaster.

The damage, 24 quids the burger, chips and a beer, the burger by itself is 16 quids.

The conclusion, Gaucho is a no go for burgers, if I were them I will take it out of the menu, keep on the safe side with the steaks, the sausage platter, and add as many humitas as you want. Low 5 in my scale for the Argentinian stakehouse.

This overcook experience reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Shower Head” where Jerry is trying to convince Uncle Leo to leave his girlfriend.

Uncle Leo: Ah, she's a real tiger.
Jerry: I don't know how you do it.
Uncle Leo: What?
Jerry: A man like you, limiting yourself to one woman, I don't know. But it's none of my business.
Uncle Leo: What are you talking about?
Jerry: Well...
Uncle Leo: Look at this, I told them medium rare, it's medium.
Jerry: Hey, it happens.
Uncle Leo: I bet that cook is an anti-Semite.
Jerry: He has no idea who you are.
Uncle Leo: They don't just overcook a hamburger, Jerry.
Jerry: All right. Anyway, the point I was making before Goerbbles made your hamburger is a man like you could be dating women twenty years younger. Come on Uncle Leo, I've seen the way women look at you. When's the last time you looked in a mirror? You're an Adonis! You've got beautiful features, lovely skin, you're in the prime of your life here, you should be swinging. If I were you I'd tell this Lydia character, "It's been real" move back into that bachelor pad and put out a sign; Open for business.
Uncle Leo: Believe me, I thought about it. But she is so perfect in every way, I can't see a flaw.
Jerry: Well, keep looking.


Gaucho Grill on Urbanspoon
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