Billy & Me Quest for Eats

The Salisbury, Harringay
1 Grand Parade,
Green Lanes,
London,
N4 1JX

Very very very nice pub.

We headed in on a cold night after a long long day and received a warm welcome in this warm comfortable environment. The pub itself could easily veer toward the ostentatious on account of the impressive ironwork over the door and roomy wooden rooms. But friendly staff (made all the more obvious by how many regulars they knew the names and regular drinks of) certainly produce an excellent pub.

Food was quite good. It can be hard to find good mussels in London pubs and I wasn’t disappointed. Just a personal preference; I’m not a big fan of a white sauce on seafood.

Link to gmap

Billy: 8
Eoin: 6

The Freemason’s Arms
32 Downshire Hill,
Hampstead,
NW3 1NT

Neither Billy nor I had been to Hampstead Heath before. Billy claimed he holidayed in the area some ten years ago during a crazy hedonistic student binge weekend… but I’m not sure I believe him (luckily he rarely reads the blog, so probably won’t see that…).

The three of us ventured up on a Sunday afternoon, just to go somewhere different. It really is a lovely park. It’s large enough to actually be able to stretch your legs without just running around in circles desperately avoiding an exit. The view across London is truly spectacular and great for the inevitable “what’s that over there?” game. Very pleasant afternoon.

And a very pleasant pub. The Freemason’s Arms is quite a find; it’s one of those pubs you stumble across at just the right moment of thirst, hunger, and chill and are met with good food, good beer, and chatty good staff. The interior is very well decorate; bare stone walls with various Buddha statues and similar dotted throughout. It’s subtle enough to create a pleasant interesting atmosphere without falling into pretension.

The staff are very fast on their feet without seeming hurried (I think the word I’m searching for is competent). Billy was delighted at a good range of filling foods. What’s on offer is basically pub grub (mash potatoes, steak, pie, etc.) with a touch extra (some roast asparagus on the mash) which actually works very well. To be honest, for the price, I expected slightly something more flavoursome having ordered a seared tuna steak on a bed of crunchy asparagus and mash. But, it was perfectly fine.

The reason I would recommend the Freemason’s so highly is a combination of staff, atmosphere (noisy with people laughing and chatting; not music or flashing machines), and a great location (just at the edge of the park).

Eoin:7
Billy:9 (though, this is in the throes of illness so his appetite wasn’t all that it could be)
Super new special score for atmosphere: 9
Googlemap: here

Busaba
106-110 Wardour Street
Soho
London

Now, I’m going to be particulary vicious here as I once raved about this place. Many people have. It’s one of the those wonderful London places you discover and want everyone to know about. Food that’s the equal of that served in Thailand. Exciting and spicy dishes. Som Tam that singes the roof of your mouth and sharply pricks at your tastebuds, hot delicate soups and wonderful zingy drinks… This was an excellent establishment… was.

Neither Billy nor I had been there for a while. Billy mentioned that he had read Busaba had changed hands; it hadn’t occured to me that perhaps they had exchanged their chefs for rabid monkeys in the process.

We ordered very simple Thai fare: Pad thai (that stalwart dish) and Som Tam (the definitite taste of Bangkok; for Billy at least). It’s hard to mess up Pad Thai; I mean it’s basically stir-fried noodles using Thai seasonings. It’s hard to delibrately decide to use greying greasy meat for it. It’s difficult to see how one could arrive at the conclusion that it should be a tepid temperature. I’m not sure how one would believe that it should be entirely devoid of flavour. For me at least; when I have to reach for the soy bottle to drench my food; things are not as they should be.

The Som Tam drove a nail through my heart. It’s my favourite dish; bar none. I’ve very special memories of Som Tam vendors mashing and slicing madly on the kerbs in Bangkok to create this wonderful meal. Som Tam is simply green papaya, roasted nuts, and chillis (with other ingredients such as sugar, fish sauce, dried shrimp amd so on changing according with the chef); all shredded and mashed together. If you have the correct ingredients, it is a very simple dish to produce, that produces a wonderfully delicate searing sensation (if you think that sounds contradictory; shuddup). When it’s a handful of peanuts floating about a bowl full of watery fruit, it doesn’t inspire quite so well.

To close; the staff were incompetent (though very friendly while failing to complete one order correctly for anyone within earshot) and the lifeless muck presented as food was a tad disappointing. This was a treasure; now it’s a farce. I’ll go to MacDonald’s next time; where I’ll at least get exactly what I expect.

… Billy’s crying little wormy tears.

Eoin: 2
Billy: 4

Multimap: here

Vue Cinema Islington
36 Parkfield Street
Islington
N1 0PS

HOT DOGS, Ar-mour HOT DOGS
What kind of kids love Ar-mour HOT DOGS?
Big kids, lit-tle kids, kids who climb on rocks
fat kids, skin-ny kids, ev-en kids with chicken pox
love HOT DOGS, Ar-mour HOT DOGS
The dogs kids love to bite!

[Revised Version] Circa 1968

Going to see Land of the Dead…. Vue’s hotdogs certainly help me relate to the characters….

It was almost a Wagnerian experience.

Googlemap: here
Billy:7
Eoin:3

Del’Aziz
24-28 Vanston Place
Fulham
SW6 1AX

Hrrrmmmm…. not a lot to say about this place really; which I feel kinda bad about. It’s actually been a well over a week since we were there (I’ve backdated the timestamp) and I still can’t think of anything interesting to say.

In any case, we had built up quite a lot of tension in the week before (poor Billy’s appetite had only been sporadically voracious… poor little fella) and we had a present some time ago of a massage voucher; so off we went.

Billy did pretty well out of it; emerging with a mighty hunger. I did feel better afterward, but Christ, that was the most genuinely painful massage I’ve ever recieved. I spent an hour gritting my teeth and trying not to scream out loud. In future, when asked if I like hard or soft massages, I think going for the “oh, really hard would be good” would be an error. Likewise suggesting she “get in there and go for it” if she encounters any real pockets of resistance around my shoulders would, I feel, be a gross error of judgement. Speaking to her afterward; I had built up some serious knots and it did help a lot… I think taking up pilates might be in order.

Anyway, the food!!!!

Neither Billy nor I had been around Fulham before, so we felt it was a good opportunity to explore new vistas of eats. The three of us scouted about the area and entered into Del’Aziz as it served big chunky crusty ciabatta sandwiches which Billy had spotted from outside (observant wee fella). The interior (and exterior for that matter; it’s a pedestrianized street with lots of seats outside) is vibrant and interesting. It’s jammed full of big satisfyingly weighty wooden blocks for tables and chairs; all the food (most notably the deserts) are laid out in all their colourful splendour. Various metal teapots and earthenware bowls are also laid out for sale.. It’s quite the food branding experience. Like Starbucks but with some attempt made at authenticity.

Unfortunately, as it really is an interesting and lively place; nether the food nor the service are really up to much. We ordered roast lamb, feta, and random leaves in a ciabatta and chickpea salad (with a fantasic dressing) on the side. Our dining companion had a meatball stew in a flame-hued tomato sauce. It all looked fantastic, but.. the salad arrived sometime after the ciabatta (I had almost finished) and the stew arrived after that again. We were waiting quite some time for rather weak coffee as well. Again, it all looked great; big steaming litre bowls of coffee and stew served in attractive earthenware dishes… but the food was quite bland and lifeless. Actually, that’s unfair. The roast lamb was very good, but I was annoyed at waiting for so long. The stew and salad were both perfectly acceptable, if missed opportunities at making something more flavoursome.

All in all, it’s an above average place. I certainly wouldn’t travel to go there but, if I was in the area looking for a bite, I would certainly pop back in. Nice place. Nice, if a bit slow, staff. Nice for people-watching. Nice little street. Nice food. All very… nice.

Billy: 6
Eoin: 6

Multimap here