The food scene

What a lovely way to spend Mother's Day with my family. For me this is the best Indian in London, with some pretty stiff competition it trumps some very fine Michelin starred Indian establishments with some great chefs at there helm. I just love the vast open windows with great views of the world famous regent street. The decor is typically Indian bright vibrant and classic much like the food with Anglo Indian classics such as mulligatawny soup. My dish of the night was the lobster malabar curry, silky creamy sauce with green mango, coconut and turmeric like an explosion of flavour in your mouth. Madagascan wild king prawns with coriander, mint and chilli, simple classic flavours perfection on a plate, beautifully caramelised packing a perfect punch of heat to lift this dish to great heights. Other dishes were 'Kashmiri roghan josh' with succulent Welsh lamb knuckles falling off the bone and the Delhi classic chicken makhani was both flavoursome rich spicy sauces with perfe...

I just love restaurants like this, interior designers clearly not needed in this rustic shoreditch looking hipster hangout, but in upmarket Snaresbrook.  In actual fact the food is a lot more sophisticated than that, the tiny kitchen producing excellent sharing plates and dishes from the Puglia region and southern Italy. I really enjoy watching young chefs in open kitchens like this so knowledgeable and passionate about there profession.  In particular the pigs head bruschetta caramelised in front of you by blowtorch, charred and smokey giving a real depth of flavour and texture. This was followed by cicatelli pasta from puglia perfectly 'al dente' with a rich Sicilian tomato sauce pork fillets and parmesan, also Panzerottino (deep fried calzone) with cured capacollo ham and fontina cheese. Crisp from the outside crack it open and the fontina oozing out, really well executed.  It's always good to see restaurants supporting there local producers, all fish coming from the...

Disappointingly the service in this rustic Bbq was not up to scratch, on two occasions we had to remind the waiters of drinks we ordered, although the dalston 40ft pale ale was worth the wait. Sadly the second time actually having to cancel and ask for the bill. Only for them to come a few minutes later 'on the house' However the food can not be overshadowed as the kitchen produced some really good food. Lovely crisp deep fried balls stuffed with rich ox cheek was the highlight appetizer. Followed by barbecued beef brisket, which literally melted in your mouth and thick cut BBQ pork rib falling off the bone glazed with a smoky sharp sticky sauce. It didn't end at main, with the plum crumble and condensed milk ice cream, perfectly ending a pleasant dinner, crunchy sweet and tangy with the ice cream really bringing this dish together. To summarise I would recommend this restaurant however be prepared for a long wait for a drink.

Walking into the fat duck you are greeted by the host in a disconcerting room full or mirrors, to see yourself 4 times is just the start of this wacky incredible journey. To say this restaurant is amazing would simply not do it justice. The clever techniques used to wow you with the '7 chapters of Hestons holiday story' not only make you laugh more after every course, but the flavors and textures back up the wonderful presentation. Moving straight onto chapter 5. 'Dinner time' This is when the kitchen really stepped up to a level that could only be described as mind blowing. The 3 course meal in between chapters is elegant genius and the finest flavors you could ever create. The playful gestures temporarily is on hold, and 3 Sophisticated dishes truly are sensational. Veal sweetbreads so creamy sort and moist, with perfectly crisp golden breadcrumbs. Beef so tender you could almost manipulate it into a ball. Some of the other chapters include the Fat duck classic...