Sticky Fingers - Kensington!

It has been 6 months since my last visit, forgive me not for glutton but for my absence.

Sticky Fingers has been a planned event - event due to the prolonged salivation over the bourbon ribs - for over 6 months now. Now that he who will be name Mr.C has graced us with his presence after 6 months of travelling, me, Mr.C and Mr.D caught up on home and international goings on in between mouthfulls.

Sticky Fingers is located in Phillimore Gardens just off High Street Kensington, it is an American style restaurant owned by the one and only Bill Wyman from The Rolling Stones. See, it's got your attention already, good! More attention needed? Get a taste london card (2 week - 3 month free trials available) and you get 2 for 1 on everything but drinks Mon-Thurs. Well worth it, like me you will probably spend full price but have double the food!

Bill Wyman opened this restaurant in 1989 and named it after one of The Stones' albums. The restaurant is plastered in old memorabilia such as posters, some funny caricatures (which Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood have the perfect faces for) and a number of electric guitars. The restaurant is quite big and has plenty of seating, although it does get very busy, and it does have a number of stylish red seated booths with a tea light candle at every table.

Now a point to remember is that Monday is 20-50% off day! Now dont get too excited it doesn't mean everything, burgers are basically half price but ribs are only a £3.00 saving. Monday nights can be really busy so try booking in advance. We arrived at around 7pm and had to book for an 8.30pm table, thats not a complaint though because we love this place and it's worth the wait. If you decide to go to a bar or something while you wait, check prices first because £4.23 for a pint of Peroni is a bigger rip off than the clothes of an overweight party animal who's drunk enough to attempt the full monty.

On to the food..........

I apologise for the poor quality of the phone cam, it was a bit dark in there and positioning the candle for light nearly set my menu on fire.

This is known as the $10 milkshake or the Keith Richards (£5.00). It is a vanilla milkshake accompanied by the mutual friend of Mr Richards and Lemmy from Motorhead, Mr Jack Daniels! A quality milkshake with a kick to it, at first it almost tastes like Bailey's but eventually the JD kick comes through. This also comes in strawberry or chocolate and other shots are available too.

For starters we had buffalo wings (£5.95 small, £9.45 large) in your choice of hot sauce or barbeque, we chose the barbeque option. From what I remember there 5 large wings and 10 for the large portion, nice and meaty but very hot to handle so let them cool down a bit first. Comes with blue cheese and chive sour cream which Mr.C loved but it wasn't to my taste, a bit too strong for my liking. But the wings are awesome as always! The celery stick is a common annoynace on the plate of many wing dishes in London, however if you have one of those new vegan fashion converts for a friend, the celery stick provides a free meal for them! Eat well and save money, thats the Rebel way!

Also for starter I ordered a plate of pan-fried tiger prawns (£7.95) with a sweet chilli mayo. In all honesty I wouldn't recommend it, not really worth the price and the prawns were not too well falvoured. Chilli mayo was nice though. Perhaps the large wing portion would have been better, or maybe even some potato skins as an extra. You can even order a half rack of ribs for starters!

At £11.96 on a Monday (around £15.00 normally) the dish that stole the show was the bourbon ribs served with fries, baked or mash potato and a chunky apple coleslaw. The ribs are spectacular, succulent, melt in the mouth and coated in thick bourbon sticky sauce. Fries are as fries usually are in all restaurants and the coleslaw was also very tasty. These tender ribs are baby back ribs, slow smoked, dry-rubbed and grilled to the flavour of your choosing. A faultless classic which even on a cheap night out, fifteen pounds is enough to see you through. Again with a taste london card two week free trial for the same price you can feed two people!

Served with a couple of lime-necked Coronas from Mexico (£3.60 a bottle). Did you know that the crown on the Corona logo was apparently linked to a crown worn by a misstress of the Emperor Maximillian? Now with my name being Massimo (a shortened variation of the same name, including Maximus), I wondered whether my destiny was to be an Emperor or cassanova, from this day forth I think I will refer to myself as Emperor Mass of Feasts! Back to the Mexicans, Corona is a pale lager which is medium to low carbonated, not much of an overly strong flavour either which refreshes you can compliments the ribs quite well. If Corona is not your type of thing, Sagres and Amstel is also available. However as Mr.C spent some time in Argentina, we both decided that Quilmes would be a fantastic addition to the bar menu!

Next up was the Sticky Fingers burger (£4.73 NOW THATS A BARGAIN / roughly £8.00 the rest of the week). Claimed to be an award winning burger with 100% prime British beef, special Sticky Fingers sauce with lettuce and tomato. Also served with fries and a salad garnish. For the price you definatly can't go wrong. As for the taste this was Mr.D's meal so I didn't get to taste it unfortunately, looked great though. But for his verdict (not in any way a representation of my own thoughts) he didn't seem to think of it as worthy of an award, didn't seem to think it was the best burger he's had either. Somehow I think by it's appearance it's worthy of a try and I'm sure it tastes great, maybe he just wished he had the ribs! He did have ribs for starters though, maybe he wished he had the wings instead!

A couple of side orders with the main meal, firstly onion rings (£2.95) which were standard, the flavour was nothing to be wowed by but at least they were chunky and full of onion and not just hollow batter. This came with sour cream. Secondly was the garlic bread (£2.45) which is where I have to say loses a point for me. This was like the cheapy scored baguettes with artificial garlic, however it's not something to make a big deal of, these are just snacks alongside the mains and they are cheap enough not to moan about. However they do rack up the bill so if your fussy about your rings and garlic bread then be careful.

Once everything was devoured, the nice waiter cleared our plates with amazement and complimented us with a 'you done well there boys'! A much needed laddish encouragement to soldier on to the desserts. We did wait a little bit just to digest, so whilst the guys ordered some Cokes I gave myself a metaphorical pat on the back with a Coke Float (£3.25).

As Coke Floats go, great stuff, lots of ice cream, lots of coke and a curvy almost seductive looking glass to tempt you into more greed.

For the grande finale, I reveal (instead of pancakes which I really really wanted).....the table side campfire (£4.95).

The table side campfire was ordered by both myself and Mr.D, Mr.C ordered a double thick malt chocolate milkshake which he described as 'tha bomb' and also told me I should use that expression in my review. His 5 minutes of online fame yet I won't give him the satisfaction of being credited with his full name. Ha Ha!

Anyway, the campfire was really enjoyable, in the middle was a chocolate fondue dusted with icing sugar which was plentiful in chocolate and quite rich. Surrounding the campfire were three skewers of mixed pink and white marshmallows, three strawberrys and three Oreo cookies also dusted in icing sugar. This is pretty darn good for the price, a really filling dessert however I am not a lover of Oreo cookies (I can hear the booing already)! I was quite impressed with the concept and the design of it all, just a shame there were no pancakes because I was really desperate to try those.

In total the bill did come to £114.01 for three of us (£111.05 excl 12.5% service charge (£13.88), incl a Monday Madness saving of £10.92).



BUT....don't let that put you off because I ordered extra for the purpose of the blog, on average it's about £30.00 per head for a 3 course meal and a drink. Mr.C and Mr.D were just under the £30.00 mark but as I ordered extra food and drinks I had to cover the chunk of the service charge so mine was around £55.00.

But prices are really standard to that as everyother rib joint in town, but the quality is better! I can't stress enough the advantages of having a taste card either, 2 for 1 meals slashes the price considerably (although the 12.5% is charged for the total bill before the savings are taken off). We didn't have one this time so the prices reflect the Monday Madness promotional values.

The Verdict:


I seriosuly recommend Sticky Fingers to everyone, the wings and ribs really excel over a number of other similar restaurants, the service is both efficient and friendly, plus you get 2 or 3 people waiting your table so the banter at each round is a delightful thing to have.

Lively atmosphere, the waitress nodded to us that the Kings of Leon were seated a few tables ahead of us, really good music (mostly Kings of Leon as they were there) plus a mix of old rock and of course a number of Rolling Stone classics.

Price is very reasonable considering the area, the quality of the food and in comparison to other American style restaurants. Even more so with a taste london card.

I will definatly be back, more often hopefully and I am on a mission to return to try the steak!

8/10

Thanks for some fantastic grub and an enjoyable evening, see you very soon!

My Old Dutch - High Holborn

Hallo (Hello in Dutch) or Dag (Hi),

Now I really think you will like this one...

I've had my eye on this place for quite a while now but didn't really know what to expect, perhaps a small, paint-peeling, old fashioned, pre-heated dutch type restaurant that has nothing dutch about it apart from the name. How wrong could I be, mind you as you first enter you see a small section of the place which is empty and you think 'uh oh', but then you whisk your head round the corner to be greeted by a lovely waitress and your gobsmacked by the other side of the place which is very big and has a lot of people munching away at ginormous pancakes. I rolled my tongue back in to my mouth and pretended I hadn't already read the menu half an hour ago to work out what I wanted.

My Old Dutch was first established in 1958 serving traditional Dutch sweet and savoury pancakes with desserts. The website also offers some little factoids about Dutch culture and the history of the pancake.

The decor resembles what I imagine a Dutch country style is with thick wooden tables and chairs, light neutral colours and spacious but homely.

Ok so this is a glass of Coke (2.45), not going to review Coke as I'm sure you all know and love it (no room for Pepsi in this world)! Just a couple of points I think are worth mentioning, the iconic Coke glass for one, it's a must have, it's like how coke tasted better out of a glass than a plastic cup or bottle. Well psychologically Coke tastes better coming from a Coke glass than a normal one. Same goes for the use of the glass Coke bottle.

Next up is Bitterballen (5.25), as much as the spicy wedges on the table next to me looked great I decided to go for Dutch meatballs. A little reluctant due to not being a big fan of Sweedish meatballs, in fact meatballs in general because I have not yet had a meatball better than my mother's (apart from maybe tinned meatballs - joke - I know she reads this so I have to get a joke in somehow)!

Now the Bitterballen did seem a little odd, they tasted nice but heavily struggled to find the meat as it was mostly flour, they were more like arancini with flour instead of rice and meat. But I thought this might be a Dutch thing so I googled Bitterballen and found out they are meant to be like that so apologies if I seemed to be disecting the balls with great dissapointment.

There were 5 altogether and they were very crisp, nice and hot and the taste wasn't bad either. It consisted of small amounts of almost shredded meat, alot of flour and I did detect a hint of curry powder. This was served with a strong grain mustard and a half dead, limp salad leaf on the side. Good to try at least once, you know....when in Dutch.....(I know it's not called Dutch but it sounded funny) but I guess the spicy wedges would have been more to my taste.

Look at this beauty, wow! This is the 'My Old Dutch' savoury pancake (9.95) and believe me this thing is humungus, its like a 20 inch pizza on a soft and melt in the mouth freshly made pancake.

It is made of grated cheese (doesn't specify if its mozzarella, it does look slightly different), nice crispy slices of smoked bacon, grilled chicken (difficult to see embedded in the pancake but it is there), mushrooms, small pepper slices, mushrooms, ham and sweet corn. Although it looks like a pizza it doesn't taste like a pizza and quite rightly so, its just a damn good way to have a pancake.

No real special amazing tastes for this one as it is how you would imagine chicken and bacon to taste together, the real taste tests would be with something like the lamb stew or even the apple, bacon and maple syrup 'Amsterdammer'. Still a delicious meal though, the pancake itself is really something, overwhelmed by the size and overwhelmed by how soft and addictive every bite is. But do remember this is a pancake and not a large Domino's pizza so this really is not as filling as it looks, im sure most of my lot could eat two lots and still find room for dessert!

If your really hungry, perhaps go for an interesting starter like the Bitterballen and choose the spicy wedges as a side order to the pancake.

I did say this blog was for BIG eaters, you will certainly feel right at home here.

I really don't know whether to feel proud or disgusted with myself here! I'm feeling positive so I will go for proud. You can order sweet pancakes of the same size as the savoury with this same topping or the much loved sugar and lemon, however I felt as if I should go for a waffle.

This is a banana, nuts, whipped cream and chocolate sauce waffle (5.50). There are two freshly made waffles powdered with icing sugar, it's almost like eating one of those hot guilty pleasure doughnuts you get at theme parks. On top is a split banana with whipped cream, chopped nuts and a pot of rich chocolate sauce which I began to artistically pour then decided to dump the lot in one go a get stuck in!

Waffles are scrumtous, whipped cream is a usual, I can never fault a banana because I love them too much, chocolate sauce is also delicious, mix them altogether and glutton is all of your seven sins for the day.

The Verdict:

GO GO GO GO GO, this has to be tried no matter what, large pancakes, gluttonous desserts, that tingly feeling that you pretend you are in the Netherlands for a an hour or so and people who know how to make pancakes and waffles well.

Staff were friendly but a little distant, took my dessert plate without asking if I wanted anything else or the bill, probably would have left me there for a while if I didnt call them back. However they were nice enough for me to let that one slide. Food is served quite quickly which is always a bonus!

Hot tip: All pancakes are 5.00 on a Monday, just a shame that pancake day is on a Tuesday. But Shrove Tuesday get yourself down here, endulge in a Maccy D's pancake breakfast in the morning, savoury and sweet pancakes for lunch at My Old Dutch and then have homemade ones at home!

Will be returning on pancake day armed with cash and having starved myself for a week!

Total bill came to 25.60 incl starter, main, dessert and 2 drinks.

7/10

Busaba Eathai - Tottenham Court Road

Welcome back,

Hmm, we should stop meeting like this, or maybe I should stop eating like this!

Today I had to pick up a delivery in the Tottenham Court Road area and came across a stylish and well decorated Thai restaurant with a long but fast moving queue. Much to my interest I decided to risk some impulse munchies.

Close to the British Museum, this restaurant is called the Busaba Eathai. Unidentifiable by it's logo but pretend they're not snakes and you can make out the letters.

According to legend (the website) Busaba is a Thai flower and I am sure you have guessed, Eathai is formed from the words 'Eat Thai'. This is because the term 'restaurant' is used a description for a fine dining venue whereas similarly to Wagamama's, Busaba is more relaxed and sociable.

Not to compare it too much to Wagamama's but as you know it well Busaba works in a similar way with their traditional Thai dishes being served as soon as they are ready, or in my case all at the same time (smiley face :) )! The dining area is similar in terms of being seated at benches and sharing tables with other customers. The atmosphere is quite lively and very busy around lunchtimes, yet myself and the others waiting were seated quite quickly.

My only real fussy point is the fact that it is difficult to place your coat anywhere but the floor, yes there is a coat hanger by the entrance with everyone else's coats piled on there. I just don't like to leave it unattended to the hands of an opportunist who might take a liking to my lego toy story alien keyring.

Drinks up, this is a coconut water and fresh raspberry drink (3.30) which was refreshing and tasted delightful. Not the type of drink I would normally have, so for someone who loves milkshakes and succumbs to the power of Coca Cola, breaking the habit was good for a few minutes. But I'll make up for it at Sticky Fingers where milkshakes are a necessity!

Next up was the Thai calamari with ginger and peppercorn (5.90). This is not a starter but a side order to a main meal which arrived at the same time as the rest of my meal. But if you are anything like me, this is a starter and you order the second thing that takes your fancy as the side order, logic at it's best!

From what I've read from other reviews, these calamari are meant to be the best calamari in all of London, so much so the staff even asked the person if there was anything else she would like..."maybe some calamari". They are really really yummy, the best? I'm not to sure, I must say that the Wagamama chilli squid holds a larger amount of space in my stomach. However, credit should be served as these Thai calamari are very light, a pleasing amount, flavoursome with hints of ginger and possibly soy sauce and they were not rubbery or chewy. I will agree that if you visit Busaba the calamari are a must.

Top marks for presentation, with my main meal I ordered some brown rice to go with it (2.10). The presentation impressed me but unfortunately the practicality of it was much to be desired. It became a little messy when trying to spoon the rice out on to my plate. The rice itself has a bit of a bite to it, not much flavour really but I doubt that will make a difference once each grain is drowning in curry sauce. Maybe the jasmine rice would have been a better option.

Another dish that came highly recommended was the green chicken curry with pea corn and aubergine (8.70). This wasn't actually my first choice, I opted for the 'stargazer' monkfish green curry which they did not have to order, I was then contemplating the garlic pepper ostrich but I thought I would pretend the chicken was monkfish instead.

As green currys go, it was full of flavour, the lemongrass and coconut flavours really came through. There was quite a kick to it spice wise, it contained both red and green chilli slices. As for the peas there was only one (see the bottom of the picture), perhaps a smaller pea in a greater quantity would have been much better. There was a decent amount of chicken and an abundance of sauce. I will say that too much sauce is a bit of a waste, due to the fact you spoon the food from the bowls to your plate, you scoop up all the chicken and chilli but find yourself getting repetitive strain injury from trying to pile on the sauce. Therefore a fair amount is left behind once the rice has been devoured.

The Verdict:

Overall a very enjoyable meal, the calamari is a definite must have and the curry is enjoyable however I think if I do return I will have to try something I think I will enjoy more such as the pad thai noodles (which I doubt will beat ewok in St. Margaret's (near Richmond upon Thames).

The atmosphere is great, very busy, friendly staff and fast service. The service was so fast that the bill was handed to me before I even finished the sentence "can I have the.....oh thank you"!

So for the calamari, coconut and raspberry flavoured water and green curry the bill came to exactly 20.00. Worth it? Not for 20 pounds, maybe if I had something different which really wowed me, the curry was not anything different from what I have had elsewhere. An enjoyable night you will have, but I must say for a few quid less, Wagamamas fits the bill perfectly (excuse the pun)!

Being very busy, I'm sure there is a dish there that screams for a repeat visit so if you find it let me know!

5/10

Jamie's Italian - Kingston Upon Thames

Hello,

The second of my weekend food adventure is Jamie's Italian in Kingston Upon Thames, of course this is one of Jamie Oliver's restaurants and when this place first opened up a couple of years ago, it had queues every night for months. This must be my 4th or 5th time I have gone back there and will continue to go there for many years to come!

It is situated across the road from the Rose Theatre and what will soon become Kingston's high street for restaurants. I love this place so much that when I had my graduation last december at the Rose Theatre, Jamie's was my celebration meal straight after.

Here are a few photos of the special day (I have a beard now):

I must just say that as an Italian who can never find a good local Italian restuarant, Jamie's is fantastic (and he's from Essex)! Gennaro did a great job in teaching Jamie the way of Italian food, just a shame Gennaro's orange tart is missing from the menu! Bring it back please, it truly was something special.

But one thing that cannot go unrecognised is the service, the staff are always very knowledgeable about the food, the ingredients and their origin, very attentive to the table and the customers, very good at recommending dishes and wines and lastly they are remarkably friendly.

See Menu: http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/food-menu

For starters we shared a small bowl of large green olives (3.75) which we were told were from Puglia, served on ice with a black olive and sun dried tomato tapenade and 3 pieces of crisp bread. The olives were very meaty, the tapenade was lovely and was a very nice addition to have. Unfortunatly the bread basket was missing due to an issue with the bread delivery company to which the waiter sincerely apologised for, if you do visit and are able to get hold of the bread basket please do because the lemon and rosemary bread is not to be missed. It is served with matured olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Next were 3 medium sized smoky scamorza arancini (4.95) filled with buffalo mozzarella which had a wonderful smokey flavour, porcini mushrooms and a sweet slightly spicy tomato and herb sauce, topped with parmesan cheese. The arancini were very crisp and the mozzarella just oozed out perfectly not salty either.

Lastly was a starter sized portion of the rabbit ragu pappardele (7.15). The pappardele was freshly made, very heavy and wholsesome due to the egg content which was delicious. The rabbit was slow braised which made it melt in the mouth. The mascarpone gave it a nice creamy texture, there was also a hint of lemon which was not overpowering but just right, breadcrumbs were also mixed in to give the dish a bit of chrunchiness. I also noticed that almost every table had this dish and I recommend that people continue to order it.

On previous visits I usually have the crispy squid with a garlicky mayo which is also very nice.

For the main course we started with a large British feather steak (13.35) which has been pounded with sage and prosciutto, it was served with mixed red and yellow cherry tomatos and strips of beef tomatos on top and wild rocket on the side. The steak was flash grilled with a nice charcoal, flame grilled taste, succulent and plenty to enjoy. I must say I was expecting a small steak even when flattened, however I was pleasently surpised to see how big it really was. To accompany the steak were 5 sweet chilli peppers (4.45) stuffed with tuna, anchovies, capers and topped with salad and balasamic vinegar. These were really nice, they were like an overfilled tuna sandwich stuffed in a chilli pepper (not to play it down with the tuna sandwich relation), I would have preferred the chilli peppers to have a bit of a heat kick to them. There was also a portion of 'posh chips' which were chips with truffle oil and parmesan, they were tasty but the truffle oil was not very distinctive however there was a slight earthy aftertaste from it which works well with the chips.

The next course was on the specials menu so make sure you try it before it's gone forever! It was Italian sausages in a honey and tomato sauce with mixed peppers. To accompany it we had 'funky chips' (3.25) with parsley and garlic and some flash cooked courgettes with a chilli and garlic sauce. There were 2 sausages but the size of them were too good to be true, absolutely massive! The sausages were one of the best Italian style sausages I have ever tried, the honey really brought out the flavours especially that of the peppers. The funky chips were great, I think I they were better than the posh chips to be honest and the courgettes were equally as delicious. They were not soggy, they maintained a good firmness and the chilli and garlic oil was in desperate need of that missing bread basket to soak it all up.

Lastly was a plate of 4 shell-roasted Brixham king scallops (15.75) wrapped in pancetta, served with chilli, a tomato salsa, fennel and lemon salad. The scallops were cooked perfectly, the pancetta really gave the scallops a nice flavour and saltiness that does not spoil them.

All 3 courses and side orders were not to be faulted, we enjoyed every mouthful!




With just a little bit of room left (well a lot for me but I couldn't eat the whole restaurant, or could I? Hmmm)....we ordered dessert. Now I must stress this again, the absence of Gennaro's orange tart was devestating, this is the point where you could see a grown man almost break down in tears.

We had a slice of walnut tart with espresso creme fraiche, orange zest and hazlenuts (4.95). The walnut tart was lovely however the espresso creme fraiche had a bit of a sharp and tangy taste which I'm not sure if it was down to a bad mix between the espresso and orange zest or the creme fraiche was on its way out. Either way, I don't think the espresso creme fraiche with orange zest was an appropriate choice.

Next was a tiramisu with orange mascarpone and chocolate (4.95) which was much more enjoyable, the orange mascarpone worked very well and the tiramisu was light and fluffy.

The final dessert was an 'ultimate chocolate and raspberry amaretto brownie' with vanilla ice cream (4.95). I usually have bad experiences with brownies because I'm not much of a chocolate dessert person and they are usually hard and taste quite artificial. Luckily, this one truly was an ultimate brownie with a distinct amaretto flavour, soft, rich and smooth. It doesn't look like a typical brownie which surprised me, as soon as I saw it I thought that this is a browniw I think I will enjoy rather than the hard sticky square ones. It looked more like a devilish chocolate muffin which I think looked brilliant.

The Verdict:

I almost feel like I should shout guilty because I enjoyed it too much. With great authentic Italian food, passionate chefs, dedicated and knowledgable staff, Jamie's Italian is one of the best restaurants I have been to. I am even more pleased that it's local.

Although it may be a bit pricey for the average person, it is definatly a perfect choice for a special occassion. However price is not too much of an issue if you stick to some of the cheaper options which are equally as good, for example the arancini, a pasta dish and even a dessert with a cheap drink could be about 23.00. Although typically you are looking at 30-35.00 per person.

The service was impeccable, very attentive to the table and always checking to make sure we were happy. They are very well informed, so don't hesistate to ask questions and really know what you are eating and where the ingredients are coming from.

The atmosphere is very dim-lit and smooth almost with tables at the front and back of the restaurant (the back is better) and some nearby the kitchen. There are many photographs of Jamie on his travels and experiencing Italian food with the locals, this really demonstrates his passion and the fact that Jamie knows what he's doing.

Not much I can really fault here, so all I can say is check where your nearest restaurant is, there is one near Covent Garden I think for tho close to Central London and have a great time.

I'll give it a special 8/10 (minus one point for Gennaro's tart not being on the menu).

Thanks for a really good night out, I hope you like the review!