Welcome back!

It's been a minute since my last Flavour drop and boy do I have a backlog of reviews to get through. My partner and I spent a few days in London last week and for anyone who knows me it'll come as no shock that a strong focus of the trip was optimising restaurant visits.

We carefully took into account reviews from various sources, type of cuisine, location and cost and although there were a couple of disappointing meals, we had a great time overall. And yes, spreadsheets were involved.

I've also finished a couple of TV series as well as watched two films and a West End musical since we last spoke; reviews for those to look forward to.

In order to keep this week's issue to a reasonable read-time, we're going to treat it as a food-focused speed round. Think of it like TikTok meets Jay Rayner.

Food

My brain wants to do this chronologically but I'm wondering whether best to worst, or worst to best might be more entertaining. I'll go with my brain and see what happens.

Before the London trip it was my birthday and to celebrate we went out with my family for lunch at the Cherwell Boathouse. If this sounds familiar it's because you're one of my OG readers and may remember we visited here in Issue 4. I opted for the butternut squash and almond soup as a starter and rabbit stuffed with pistachio and apricot main. The food was great and it was a lovely treat to be taken out for lunch in a picturesque setting with great company.

Rating: 7.5/10

One of my birthday presents was a delivery of matzo ball chicken soup from The Good Egg. A very thoughtful gift from my partner as my mum and grandma's chicken soup is one of the home cooked meals I miss the most and haven't yet invested the time to learn to make it myself. Dishpatch sell this to include two hefty servings of soup, the matzo ball mix to roll yourself and two challah (bread) rolls. It was very good, but not quite up to mum/grandma's standards.

Rating: 7/10

One of our first stops in London was to visit Borough Market. As a huge pasta fan Padella is a restaurant I've been meaning to go to for years, but any time I've been nearby the queue was ridiculous. A cold Tuesday lunchtime in November meant a mere 30 minute wait and so we wandered round the market until my phone beeped to say the table was ready. I tried the pappardelle with beef shin ragu and it's one of the nicest plates of pasta I've ever eaten. It's a little on the pricey side for the portion size, but totally worth it.

Rating: 9.5/10

My partner got her lunch from 'Horn OK Please' in Borough market, which serves veggie Indian food. I tried a bite and it was yummy and she LOVED it. A bit too much raw coriander for me, but if this is your thing, go for it.

(Partner's) Rating: 9/10

We couldn't visit London without a trip to Homeslice - our favourite pizza chain. They famously sell 20 inch pizzas with some unconventional toppings, where items come on and off the menu every few months. My parents were in town that evening so they got to experience the pizza goodness for the first time and agreed it was excellent. Prices have gone up from £20 a pie to £24-26, but that's inflation for you and a single pizza does serve 2-3 people.

Rating: 9/10

You don't have to go back far for a reminder of my love of bagels. Beigal Bake on Brick Lane is a Jewish bakery open 24 hours a day, filled to the brim with tourists on the weekend. They might be most famous for their salt beef bagel, but I was there for my salmon and cream cheese. We did pop back on our way home from the trip to pick up another dozen begals and platzels. Word of advice: eat them fresh as they go rock hard within a couple of days!

Rating: 7.5/10

Back when I lived and worked in London, I used to go to Petticoat Lane food market at least once a week for lunch. I remember you could get a ridiculously large chicken and falafel wrap, with houmous, salad, whatever sauce you liked and a can of drink for about £4.

We rocked up at 2pm when sadly nearly every stall was shutting down for the day, but the Chicken Katsu stall was still serving and to my amazement it was the same lady from five years ago running the joint. She didn't remember me, but once I told her I remembered her, we suddenly got given 'special' portions. £7 per meal isn't bad considering how tasty it was and it was ideal to relax and eat back at our apartment after a morning of wandering.

Rating: 8/10

We met a friend for a casual dinner at Pizza Union. I've eaten here a couple of times in the past and found the pizzas were very good for the extremely low price, but either my tastes have improved, or their quality has worsened because these were closer to flatbreads than pizzas.

Rating: 4/10

We decided to grab dessert after the pizza and one of the few dessert places open late night was Dessert Parlour. Not expecting much we thought it'd be a nice place to sit for another hour and chat, but the desserts were actually great and the waiter was particularly friendly. We had ice cream, rainbow cake and a milkshake.

Rating: 8/10

The next day we had a quick lunch at Masala Zone, an Indian restaurant with lovely decor inside. I had the lamb rogan josh and garlic naan while my partner had the mixed veg Thali, which comes with curry, dal, raita, two fresh vegetable dishes and either rice or chapattis.

My curry was average, which is disappointing for over £17. I've had better at a local takeaway. The naan was actually pretty cold when it arrived which I did tell them about and they immediately brought a fresh one out and were extremely apologetic.

My partner's Thali however was fantastic. I tried a little of every dish and we both loved them all. Next time we go (and I think we will) I will be ordering that.

Rating: 8/10

On our way to the Dessert Parlour we actually walked past Xi'an BiangBiang Noodles and the smell was incredible. It's a restaurant I'd spied as part of the pre-trip planning, but it hadn't made the short list. The smell of noodley goodness meant that we had to make space for it and went for dinner on another night.

The menu seems fairly self explanatory, but what arrived at the table wasn't quite what we expected. I had their famous belt noodles in a broth with chicken thighs, potato and some other veg. It was good, nothing amazing. My partner had dry noodles with a host of vegetarian toppings to mix in around the edge of the plate, including a cold peanut sauce. She wasn't a huge fan. Some of the other food which other tables ordered looked better. I'm glad we got to experience it, but won't be rushing back.

Rating: 5.5/10

Sign Off

If you have any feedback, please get in touch and I hope to see you again for next week’s newsletter.

Thanks for reading and have a great week.

Adam