Tea Darling's?...At the theatre!

The Tea Darlings Vintage Tea Room, makes for an unexpected and delightful afternoon out. This hidden gem, started as a pop-up tea spot last year and now takes its home on the first floor at the Questors Theatre in our very own Ealing. 

I'd spotted the chalk board sign on Mattock Lane "Vintage Tea Rooms 11am-4pm", and it only took a week to finally make a visit. Four of us arrived with prams in tow and spent the rest of the day there drinking tea and eating cake.

Inside the tea rooms

The location at the theatre is spacious and easy to access (lift tried and tested with our prams!). The space has been made to feel really cosy with pretty bunting strewn across the ceiling and a plethora of furnishings and vintage memorabilia.

There is a range of tea and coffee on offer alongside a selection of homemade cakes... including a special offer when you buy tea and cake together. We also sampled the lunch that day which was a hearty pea and watercress soup. The cake selection always also offers a gluten free option and their lunches are vegan too! 

What makes the tea extra special however, is the range of vintage china cups and teapots that it arrives in. If you book in advance a full afternoon tea experience is available - and includes a glass of Prosecco should you wish! We didn't try the full hog on this visit, but have that booked in the diary soon!

The bakewell cake and a nice cup of tea

A peaceful and calming atmosphere was created by some background music (from the mid 1900's of course), and the extremely friendly welcome we received from Pam the host. Pam helped with all our requests and questions and even offered to reheat the tea of one of our breastfeeding crew.

The tea counter with china and cake lined up for the picking

We loved the atmosphere and quirky-ness of Tea Darlings Vintage Tea Room, and can't wait to head back soon - What better excuse to eat cake and be merry!

Summary score table /5
Food Deliciousness:	4
Drinks Tastiness:	4
Service Skills:	5
Atmospheric Vibes:	5
Recommendation Score for a Casual Eve:	N/A
Recommendation Score for Showing off Ealing:	5
Total average score:	4.6

Tiramisu - why not!

Quietly located on South Ealing Road, the Tiramisu Cafe sits on the corner of Sunnyside Road (also neighbour to one of our favourite eats - Butlers Thai). Just outside the main hustle and bustle of the Broadway, Tiramisu makes for a peaceful spot.

Inside it is much brighter than you might expect, its large windows and light decor make it feel light and airy. A good spot for some work during the week, or a weekend brunch - as we tested ourselves.

The highlight on the menu, and a first for me, was their 'savoury' porridge. Among other light traditional Italian dishes the porridge stood out and tasted as good as it did intriguing. Warm and full of mushrooms and chicken it reminded me of a yummy risotto or a soup.

The menu isn't very large but has a good range of hearty and homemade choices, and also includes some wonderful daily specials displayed on the black board that regularly changes.

Service here is friendly and non-intrusive, and like lots of local independent eats it is closed on Mondays.

The toilet is located at the back of the cafe outdoors, and doesn't have a baby changing station (at last check), but if you are looking for a new spot by yourself or with your family and friends we'd recommend giving it a go.

Summary score table /5
Food Deliciousness:	4
Drinks Tastiness:	4
Service Skills:	4
Atmospheric Vibes:	4
Recommendation Score for a Casual Eve:	N/A
Recommendation Score for Showing off Ealing:	2
Total average score:	3.6

Nuki Nuki

We are having  some work done on our kitchen, so what better excuse to try a new local eat.

We fancied a Thai and had recently tried Butlers Thai for a takeaway, so were keen to try it 'eat in' - however they weren't open on this lovely bank holiday, so we looked elsewhere. We'd heard of the newly opened Thai competitor - Nuki, on Northfields Avenue which had so far been spoken fondly about - so we gave that a go.

So new, they only so far have a Facebook page and no website, Nuki's operates much like a cafe during the day and restaurant by night. With a 'Cafe Open' sign stood outside, not quite to the same theme as its stylish exterior.

The inside is cosy, and a bit more cafe like - but also pleasant for an evening's dinner.

We had luckily called ahead and reserved, as it seemed most other tables had also done... each had a reserved sign on it when we arrived, and the space quickly filled. All evening there was also a steady stream of customers coming to collect their take-away (it made us think that perhaps they don't offer delivery yet - which has been confirmed on their Facebook update on March 7th, something they will look at in future). It is also bring your own bottle (BYO), though they are now charging £2 per head for this, and applying for a liquor license in the meantime.

The menu was great, and seemed to offer most of the fresh Thai dishes we like, except for a lime chicken salad which we've sampled in a few other places before.

We ordered the dim sum and chicken satay to start... so were surprised to be brought (in error) someone else's Tom Yum soup... which was relatively quickly corrected. The starters were delicious, and we particularly liked the little heart dishes of soy that the dim sum arrived in (very practical for pouring that last drop of sauce on top of the Dim Sum on your plate).

For mains we shared a chicken Penang curry (coconutty and creamy), a Som Tom salad (limey and fresh), Pad Broccoli (nicely crisp) and some egg fried rice and steamed rice. This was more than enough for us both with the starters too. It was all really good, except for the steamed rice which was a little on the under-cooked side. We also observed that the salad, although amazing in taste was not quite as delicate as some others we'd had in more upmarket places in the past - perhaps to be expected for the reasonable prices.

As for dessert, the menu was amazing - a full array of Thai options. We ordered the bananas in hot coconut milk, but this somehow got lost in communication at some point and we instead had the banana fritters with ice cream - which weren't a disappointment.

Despite some teething issues perhaps in the service, the food was tasty, and I'm certainly tempted to head back soon for their £5 lunch deals and to tick off some more of the dessert menu.

Summary score table /5
Food Deliciousness:	3.5
Drinks Tastiness:	3
Service Skills:	2
Atmospheric Vibes:	3.5
Recommendation Score for a Casual Eve:	4
Recommendation Score for Showing off Ealing:	3
Total average score:	3.2

WA...a cafe!

Seeking a new place to meet last Saturday afternoon we arranged to check out the recently opened Japanese WA Cafe. The website is pretty trendy, and accurately represents the cool and fresh vibe that is also present inside.

The large glass door at the entrance has a funny little pink button to the right to automatically open it, but before you enter you can already see the beautiful line up of glamorous looking pastries and cakes at the counter. The decor is extremely bright, elegant and modern - providing a lively space to entice you into the unusual section of treats to take away or enjoy sitting in.

We met at 2:30pm and the cafe was pretty busy - but we found a small table and the turn over seemed to be relatively fast so we also nabbed another to make enough space for the four of us. It was bustling in a nice way, and not such that it intruded with our own conversation.

As for the food, an exciting array of unusual cakes, pastries and snacks were lined up in rows, full of colour and unusual names. The staff were good and explained anything we didn't understand. One online review summed it up well I think - the cafe has is something of a French influenced patisserie by sight, but uses Japanese ingredients we are less familiar with. Soba tea - made with buckwheat, some coffees, the sesame cheesecake, bread and butter pudding and a Japanese style sausage roll were on our order. All beautifully presented. The cakes certainly delivered, and provided an unusual sweet treat, but were well balanced. The sausage roll was a sausage cut in two and embedded in both ends of the pastry - so sausage-less in the middle - which was a bit of a surprise.

 

The website has a menu so it will entice us go back and try some more of the cakes on offer soon. All in all a great and different way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Summary score table /5
Food Deliciousness:	3.5
Drinks Tastiness:	3
Service Skills:	3
Atmospheric Vibes:	4
Recommendation Score for a Casual Eve:	4
Recommendation Score for Showing off Ealing:	5
Total average score:	3.75

Papaya feasting

We’ve been to Ealing’s Sri Lankan special nearly three times this year – so it is about time we blogged about it :o)

As some of you may know, Sri Lankan restaurants are in fact hard to come by, even in our cosmopolitan London town. The new, and trendy ‘Hoppers’ restaurant in Soho has recently drawn more attention to this much understated cuisine, although with its no-booking approach it is often hard to get a table. We have also been to another restaurantin Tooting, and heard about some authentic Sri Lankan eats on Sunday evenings at a pub in Sudbury Hill. However our Sri Lankan friends tell us that they aren’t as common as we might have expected.

We first tried Papaya before we really knew what Sri Lankan food was. Having dined in many Indian restaurants and having spent time in South India, some of the dishes on Papaya’s menu seemed familiar. With over 11% of the national population being Tamil, Sri Lankan cuisine shares many dishes and influences from South Indian Tamil traditions. On our first visit we un-adventurously ordered those dishes that we were familiar with, such as dhal and curries. 

Earlier this year however, we were fortunate enough to attend a friend’s wedding in Sri Lanka and get to sample the culinary delights and delicacies that it has to offer. One thing that was striking to us was the delicate flavours and textures that Sri Lankan dishes host – of course this is in comparison to our experiences of Northern Indian British restaurants which just don’t seem quite as fine or well tuned.  Several Sri Lankan dishes are made up of finely chopped ingredients and a multitude of aromatic spices and flavours.

Photo: Papaya's Kothu Roti

In Sri Lanka itself our British appearances prompted the question at each mealtime “how spicy would you like your dish”. We mainly went for medium, although the one “spicy” dish I did try was really pleasant, and with a few breathers in between made for a delicious meal. This is one thing Papaya doesn’t match to its heritage roots – a few of the items on the menu are labelled with “Mild”, “Medium” and “Hot”; however by our measure the one “Hot” dish (the chicken madras curry) did not live up to the chilli used for in-country dining.

One of our favourite dishes is the Kothu Roti. Imagine an Indian flat bread (the roti) copped into strips of about 1cm wide (or less) and fried up with meat, vegetable and those aromatic spices we mentioned...and there you have it, the Kothu Roti. Traditionally eaten in the evening in Sri Lanka (rice and curry are reserved for lunchtime sittings), we would argue that Kothu Roti goes down a treat at any time of the day. Since having been in Sri Lanka, this is now a regular on our order when we visit Papaya.

 

Photo: Kothu options at Papaya (string hopper is a bit like vermicelli)

Another traditional dish is the Egg Hopper, a south Indian pancake made from fermented rice, cooked with a fried egg in the centre. When I first saw this in Sri Lanka I was convinced it was a breakfast fusion of Indian Dosa (the pancake) with an English breakfast fried egg! How wrong I was – hoppers, and egg hoppers are a traditional eat for any meal all over the island.

During our most recent trip we went with some friends excited for a Sri Lankan feast. We ordered a lot of food and decided to also sample the starters. Most of the starters tended to be dry-ish fried bites – such as fishcake cutlets, lentil balls, samosas and so on. I thought they were delicious, but one of our guests did comment that she wished she’d saved more space for the phenomenal curries instead.

 Photo: Dahl, curry, rice, and another favourite - coconut sambal (finely ground coconut with spices to sprinkle on any dish)

By its own measure Papaya is “The best Sri Lankan Restaurant in the UK” (as it states on its restaurants homepage, claiming the Sri Lankan Community Award). Aside from the homemade Sri Lankan food we’ve been lucky enough to sample by the mothers of our good friends, we would agree that Papaya has been a delight to return to every time we get those Kothu Roti cravings.

Summary score table /5
Food Deliciousness:	4.5
Drinks Tastiness:	4
Service Skills:	4
Atmospheric Vibes:	3
Recommendation Score for a Casual Eve:	5
Recommendation Score for Showing off Ealing:	5
Total average score:	4.25

Chick chick chick...Chooks!

A rare lunch catch up with my sister and her boyfriend at the weekend, offered the perfect opportunity to try something new, and knowing them to be connoisseurs of trendy urban eateries, burgers and the like...I booked us into Chooks

Chooks is the new diner style restaurant on Haven Green, the second site for the restaurant originating in Muswell Hill. Chooks is Aussie slang for Chicken. Funnily enough, hubby and I were trying to figure out what exactly is Australian cuisine...and despite the name, we are none the wiser. But whilst the name is just about the only Aussie thing about the restaurant, they do do some 'beaut' chicken.

At 1pm on a Saturday we arrived to find the place pretty empty, so there was no trouble taking our table for the 4 of us plus baby in pram. However, there were a number of bookings that filled the place up over the next hour or so. The atmosphere was relaxed, the music was loud but ok and we settled in to look at the menus.

Perusing the menu

Between us we sampled a good selection of food. I had the High Noon Chicken Tacos, Hubby had the 'Hog 'n Chook combo', my sister had the buttermilk chicken with mash 'n gravy, and her boyfriend had....the burger! We all agreed that the buttermilk chicken was really delicious, and better than other similar dishes we've sampled in the local area. Even the self-declared chicken hater relished the juicy meat and nicely spiced batter. The ribs were sizable, the chips fairly average. The mash was good and creamy, and the slaw interesting and a nice variation on the normal.

High Noon Chicken Tacos

Hog 'n Chook Combo

For drinks, 3 of us ordered milk shakes. These came in the usual flavours vanilla, chocolate etc as well as banana maple which was yum. These were extremely filling though and didn't leave much space for dessert. 

The one dessert we did try was the peanut chocolate cheesecake donut. Quite a mouthful in more ways than one. It was a nice size, and a tasty indulgence to end the meal. We will return though as on the menu was a deep-fried mars bar...definitely one to try another time!

Service was excellent, good fun and attentive. They were also very accommodating of our pram and welcoming of children with colouring in sheets available. Decor is modern but not overdone. 

Chooks is a welcome addition to ever expanding Ealing restaurant scene.

Summary score table /5
Food Deliciousness:	4
Drinks Tastiness:	3.5
Service Skills:	4.5
Atmospheric Vibes:	3
Recommendation Score for a Casual Eve:	4
Recommendation Score for Showing off Ealing:	3
Total average score:	3.6

Monty, Monty, Montys?

A (not so) wintery Friday night took us to finally try out one of the three Monty’s Nepalese restaurants in Ealing.

As you may have noticed ‘Montys’ appears not at one, or two... but three locations across Ealing. So the story goes; three partners who founded the original Montys went their separate ways in, and each started their own restaurant with the same name... and logo! Today Monty’s Tandoori in South Ealing still stands after the original opening in 1980.

Montys of London in Ealing Broadway, and Montys restaurant in West Ealing, all have unique websites and operate as independent businesses.

Being the closest, we decided to first try out the one in South Ealing. We booked a table online (just in case it happened to be busy) and arrived on Friday evening.

It was indeed pretty busy, and had a great bustling atmosphere in a relatively cosy setting. It might have been the delicious scent of the Asian cuisine, but the place had a feel of mountainside restaurant with its large window at the front and long, almost cave-like interior. 

The waiters were notably friendly, but also professional – attentive and yet not intrusive. We were served quickly and tended to politely. 

We overindulged on some delicious starters followed by some traditional Nepalese curries. The food was delicious, though we couldn’t help compare it to its spicy Indian competition. The dishes we ordered were relatively mild by comparison. 

When we ordered our bill we discovered that by having booked out table online we were also eligible for a 20% discount – a welcome bonus to the already very lovely evening.

Summary score table /5
Food Deliciousness:	3.5
Drinks Tastiness:	3.5
Service Skills:	5
Atmospheric Vibes:	3.5
Recommendation Score for a Casual Eve:	4
Recommendation Score for Showing off Ealing:	4
Total average score:	3.9

Santa Maria la Pizzeriaaa 
 
A relaxed summers Sunday evening, and we had an old friend visiting from overseas. We hadn't been to Santa Maria for a while so it seemed like a good option for a relaxed night out and some yummy food to fill our tums.

The pizzeria is famous for it's long wait for tables, whilst you drink in the pub next door (not a bad alternative). However this was Sunday (a quieter night for most restaurants), so we only waited a few minutes for our table (sadly missing out on the beer ;o)

We sat on a table near the front of the restaurant feeling the heat from the pizza oven and ordered our Italian beverages (beer and limonata) to go with our food. The decor was fun (having been refurbished back in Feb this year)

"Santa Maria was just what we were looking for on a lazy Sunday evening. Local, casual, relaxing but with a great atmosphere and some truly fantastic pizzas. The Italian team running the show are great - what an Ealing gem." Luke - visiting Ealing 

We hadn't been here for a while, but noted that the prices are now competitive with L'Oro Di Napoli just down the road (where we have been more recently). This is probably due to the increase at L'Oro Di Napoli, given its bedding in since its quite recent opening.

We ordered a selection of pizzas, and they didn't disappoint. We all commented on the rich tomato sauce used - it was delicious. Alex had gone for the special (with no tomato) which was really juicy even without the sauce. There was a good helping of toppings, and the bases were indeed from a good wood-fired-oven pizza.

We didn't have deserts, and although I was slightly dissapointed that there was no peppermint tea on offer - I accepted its upholding of traditional Italian vibes. I also got to take home the third of my pizza (that wouldn't fit in my tum) for lunch the next day - so was happy enough :o)

As you are told on the website, Santa Maria is listed in Time Out's 2012 Guide, and the restaurant has continued its standards as it was voted in the Evening Standard's top ten pizzas to try before you die. We would agree on the tasty pizzas - but although the service was friendly, we did feel a bit rushed. There were a few people waiting outside at odd points, but a smooth flow that kept the restaurant full all evening. We certainly got the sense that quick turnover was on order.

Despite the runs, all in all, this place still stays top for us in Ealing and we had a fun night. It gets itself a STAR EAT!

Summary score table /5
Food Deliciousness:	5
Drinks Tastiness:	3
Service Skills:	3
Atmospheric Vibes:	4
Recommendation Score for a Casual Eve:	5
Recommendation Score for Showing off Ealing:	5*
Total average score:	4.2

*Seeing as this was our second visitor we've taken here to technically 'show off Ealing' :o)

Felling pretty Fat Boy

Friday night and too tired from a hard weeks work to cook...so a night out on the town in search of some Thai food. Fat Boys seemed right up our alley (well near enough at the Broadway).

We arrived quite late at 9:30pm and luckily enough to get the last table for two, and without a booking. The smell as we went in was incredible! Fragrant warm curries filled the air.

There were quite a few big groups in - clearly a good place to celebrate Friday nights. As it was full it was quite noisy, but didn't feel too cramped...and the food did make up for it!

The menu was filled with a vast selection of authentic dishes and got our mouths watering. We spied the shared starter platter that the ladies next to us had ordered and had to have the same.

The shared platter included the most meaty prawn toast we've ever had, some delicious satay, and some really elegant chilli sauce.

We also sampled some exciting treats from the Mocktail menu - mine was a lychee and kiwi mix and Al's was apple and melon. The latter was a bit sweet but the lychee was delicious.

For mains we had the traditional Thai green curry and prawn sweet and sour with some coconut rice - which came under its own coconut shell. Al thought it was the most creamy and delicious coconut rice he'd ever had :o) The dishes were great, and the curry quite hot - but in a satisfying green curried way.

By the end we definitely both felt like Fat Boy and girl.

Summary score table /5
Food Deliciousness:	4
Drinks Tastiness:	4
Service Skills:	3
Atmospheric Vibes:	3
Recommendation Score for a Casual Eve:	4
Recommendation Score for Showing off Ealing:	3.5
Total average score:	3.6

A Swimmingly good evening in the Turtle Bay


We had been trying to get into Turtle Bay for months and it was always full! However, with a little leg work and one phone call a table was booked. Due to the place always looking busy the hype was high but I think its fair to say it lived up to expectations. Our first attempt back in January failed miserably one Friday evening when we found that it was completely full all night! Ealing is obviously becoming such a popular place to eat out, it now seems the norm to have to book in advance...we learnt our lesson and this time booked for a smooth bank holiday afternoon out.

Turtle Bay is a Caribbean restaurant, serving jerk chicken and Caribbean curries (among many others). It has a great menu with an even better cocktail menu. We were eating relatively early because of Levi's bedtime (he's only 1 year old :o), so we came across happy hour on the cocktails which was great. The waitress kindly gave us happy hour 10 minutes after the 7pm deadline!

 
"Lived up to the hype, good food, great drinks." Pete

The place was buzzing in a fun way - lots of people waiting by the bar for tables, lots of groups out celebrating like we were; a regular Monday night. Inside they have forgotten to finish the paint job in most places, and left in the shipping container as the kitchen. It all added to the evening - good vibes all round.

Levi got a good child seat (for those interested), fully secure and clean! He had a fancy pizza from the kids menu which went down a treat, however, his views aren't reflected in the scoring.

"Great range of cocktails and soft-drinks for the drivers or mums-to-be!" Sarah

Unusual Caribbean burgers were on the menu, along with some great curries. We even got to try some goats meat (the new in-thing for London apparently). Of course deserts also had to be tried and went down a treat.

It was reasonably priced and the food was really yum! We did love the decor, but also couldn't help but think that it felt much more like an independent eatery than the chain-restaurant that it really was. This did create a bit of debate over our final scores, but it still turned out on top!

We would definitely go back there, everyone agreed - there was plenty of food envy and not enough time to try everything. There are many more interesting cocktails to give a go next time!

"Great evening a really easy place to relax. Cocktails were phenomenal and reasonably priced. Food was authentic." Mark

Check out the scores below... a huge 4.1 - making it a STAR EAT*

Summary score table /5
Food Deliciousness:	3.9
Drinks Tastiness:	5
Service Skills:	3.2
Atmospheric Vibes:	4.5
Recommendation Score for a Casual Eve:	4.8
Recommendation Score for Showing off Ealing:	3.4
Total average score:	4.1

[*STAR EAT = all eateries scoring 4/5 or more!]

Uno Momento, per favore

On Easter Saturday, Pete and I stepped out from our building site and make-shift kitchen and into the wilderness of Northfields at Easter. As we strode up the high street, we felt increasingly foolish for thinking we'd need to book a table as everywhere was deserted! But we wanted something tasty (and not microwaved) so we persevered to our destination - Momento, on Northfields Avenue.

Having done a little bit of research on Tripadvisor and Zomato, Momento seemed to offer all that we wanted - good, inexpensive food, in a relaxing restaurant setting. Happily, not only were we not disappointed, but the few intrepid explorers remaining in Ealing on that Saturday evening thought the same, and Momento was the only restaurant with more than one other couple dining!

The restaurant itself is modern, simple and well presented. There is a small bar and around 10 tables, with the kitchen and wood fired pizza oven at the back. The atmosphere was relaxed and informal, we felt at ease chatting away despite the relative quiet.

Looking at the menu, we succumb to not one, but three courses! For starters we choose olives and the mushroom fritti to share. The mushrooms were more than enough for two people!

For mains, we had to try the pizza. The oven blazing away behind us was too tempting, and they were good. The crust was evenly thin and crispy, which made a change to other local pizza places where the crust is puffed and the base soft. The toppings were good and plentiful.

Finally, dessert was the triumph. I enjoyed the caramel bananas with salted caramel ice cream, and Pete lapped up his enormous wedge of tiramisu, which was surprisingly light.

Overall, we had a really lovely evening. We weren't rushed and enjoyed all of the food. The bill, which came to ~£50 and included two soft drinks and two glasses of wine, felt like great value. We would definitely go back again. 

Summary score table /5
Food Deliciousness:	4
Drinks Tastiness:	4
Service Skills:	3.5
Atmospheric Vibes:	4
Recommendation Score for a Casual Eve:	3.5
Recommendation Score for Showing off Ealing:	5
Total average score:	3.9

L'Oro Di Napoli - On wheels

Finding no website* (...no website, it's 2015!), but a presence on JustEat.co.uk, ordering take away from L'Oro di Napoli was pretty straightforward. The menu has a good selection of choices and felt like it should be reasonable value if you're getting restaurant food. I ordered online and requested delivery in an hours time.

Surprise! 20mins later the pizza turned up! Never have I had such a speedy take away delivery...unfortunately I had ordered delivery for an hours time as my guests hadn't arrived yet. Ho Hum. And the delivery guy had no idea what to do about it except apologise. Not ideal, but I had to take them and managed to keep the pizzas warm in the oven until my guests got there.

Once we tucked in though, the pizzas were good. The bases were nicely cooked, having a proper wood-fired flavour and nice crust. The toppings were tasty. We ordered the Sophie Loren, a decent veggie pizza, and the Maradona, which was really great with a good sausage meat topping, and Massimo ham pizza which was probably the least popular. My one criticism was that there should have more toppings on the pizzas, the veggie in particular felt sparse and given that you are paying eat-in restaurant prices for a take-away, you should get a little more than the basic for your money.

Collective agreement was that these were some of the best take away pizzas we'd had despite the too-fast delivery. It's still not my favourite pizza in the area (I'll save that for another time), but pretty good in general. Next time, I might try eating in....

Summary score table /5
Food Deliciousness:	4
Drinks Tastiness:	n/a
Service Skills:	2
Atmospheric Vibes:	'my living room is ace'
Recommendation Score for a Casual Eve:	3
Recommendation Score for Showing off Ealing:	3
Total average score:	3

*Since writing this blog they now have a lovely looking website: www.lorodinapoli.co.uk (Thanks AJ for the comment!)

The Cricketers on the green...a stone's throw from Ealing

OK this one is a bit of a cheat...we went to Kew!! It's so close though, we thought you might like to hear about it :o)

It was a cold and rainy night, and the cosy pub was warm and inviting (Lou even stood by the open fire for a few minutes upon arrival). The terrace outside, overlooking Kew Green will be a great spot for a Pimms or cool beer in the summer. A typically modern re-furbed pub with shabby chic interior and pretty patterned tiles on the floor, it was nice enough to spend the evening in.

The waitress we well-informed as we inquired about things on the menu. However it was 8pm and about three dishes weren't available from the menu (due to the busy day?). We shared the hot Camembert between the four of us for starters then moved on to devour some burgers, pasta dish and a steak.

The tagliatelle with chorizo and pork was nicely spiced and generous with its meat...it was however a little sweet. The burgers came with huge onion rings and giant good-quality pub chips. It seems to be the trend at the moment to have burgers with additional fillings such as 'pulled pork' or 'mac and cheese' as Pete tried earlier in the year at the North Star...on top of the usual beef burger! Generally good pub food at standard prices for a pub of this type.

We didn't try puddings, but spent the evening chatting away at our private table tucked away in the corner. When we were ready to go we wondered if we had been forgotten, and a quick peek around the corner revealed that the rest of the pub was almost empty. We paid at the bar and left just before close.

In sum, a pretty, warm, good pub eat.

Summary score table /5
Food Deliciousness:	3
Drinks Tastiness:	4
Service Skills:	3.5
Atmospheric Vibes:	4
Recommendation Score for a Casual Eve:	4
Recommendation Score for Showing off Ealing:	N/A
Total average score:	3.7

Japanese Please...

A Friday evening craving for some good Japanese food took us to the Hare and Tortoise. Lou had had the pleasure of running a two day training for students from a Japanese University, and one lunch time we had some sushi. This had only whetted the appetite for more.

Her Google search for Japanese restaurants in Ealing don't yield too many results, but Hare and Tortoise is one. We later realised however that there are many more independent ones in the area - which will have to wait for another trip.

Reservations aren't taken on Fridays, but we arrived by 7pm and got a table OK, towards the back of the long restaurant (arguably a bit less nice than the front). There was a great selection of food and drinks, so we shared some sushi and edamame beans for starters then also got a main. Prices were reasonable and service was quick, though not very personal - I guess that can be expected from a busy chain serving quick eats.

For mains we tried the teriyaki chicken, and the eels - both served with rice, and the eels came with some miso soup. We've tried eel before but it was a bit disappointing in this dish - an acquired taste perhaps. We had more than enough food, but still managed to share three mochi ice cream balls (if you haven't had these before...think scoops of ice cream in rice-flour coat - delicious).

Overall a nice meal, but nothing very special. We would go there again, but also keen to explore and compare other Japanese restaurants in the area. So far I've seen:

• Kobe Sushi nr Broadway
• Kiraku nr Ealing Common
• Okawari nr Broadway
• Atari-Ya nr Ealing Common
• Momo on Hanger Lane
• Yo Yo nr Broadway

Let us know if you would recommed trying any of them? or have more to add to the list?

Summary score table /5
Food Deliciousness:	3.5
Drinks Tastiness:	3
Service Skills:	3
Atmospheric Vibes:	3
Recommendation Score for a Casual Eve:	4
Recommendation Score for Showing off Ealing:	3
Total average score:	3.25