The Food and Drink thread

Carol's roast dinner, say no more!! Worth the 3 times a year wait for.

You're right about Broadway Market.....................I lived just round the back of there for several years and you can find a good bit about it complete with pics in my blog by clicking on the link below!

Due to a bit of "marital breakdown a few years ago, it's not conducive for the sort of clandestine lunch I enjoyed with a rather beautiful and elegant "Mrs Jones" today, so we chose a nice little Italian in Muswell Hill and the tagliatelle funghi with added chilli, black pepper, and parmesan cheese went down a treat.

Only trouble was when I got home rather late tonight my missus served up tagliatelle funghi................I smiled weakly and ate it whilst wondering if she knows more than I think she knows

No she doesn't read this site!

I never knew you had a blog merse!

There are some gems dotted in and around London. The best Italian is a place called Rossidisera near Covent Garden on Monmouth Street quite near to the Seven Dials. Lots of fabulous pasta dishes for about 8 quid and I haven't been able to find anything that taste as good as this in Italy yet. For Pizzas look no further than the La Porchetta. There's 5 of them now in London although I've only been to the one in Upper Street (www.laporchettapizzeria.co.uk/home.html)

Since Eurostar moved office and station to King Cross-St Pancras we've found that we've left a couple of gems behind in Waterloo. There's a curry house on Lower Marsh Rd called Marsh Ruby. They started in a van in the market and gradually saved up enough money to lease a restaurant in the heart of the market. Their selection of Curries starts at 4 quid. We missed them terribly. Although now in King's Cross we've found a couple of nice places. Tony's Organic Cafe on Caledonian Road does the best attention seeking Veggie food going and next door there's a place called KC International Foods which has been run by this Italian guy called Leo for 42 years. If you've been to Italy you'll love this places. Hams and Salamis hang from the ceiling and he stocks every type of pasta imaginable.

As for other foods I had a fantastic Lamb Sharwama the other night in a place called the Beruit Express in South Kensington. Think of a very high quality juicy lamb kebab. Marvellous. As good if not better than ones I had near Rainbow Street in Amman back in 2008.

A work colleague went to a Korean Restaurant in Finsbury Park the other day called Dotori and came back heaping praise on it so I'll be off there soon. I promise I won't try and eat a live Octopus like in Oldboy. Apparently they do a Raw Beef, Vegetable and rice dish that continues to cook in a clay dish while you eat. Sounds great to me.

As for Brazillian places there are a number of good ones near Willesden Junction railway station. You also have nearby Goldborne Rd near the Trellick Tower which does Lebanese, Carribbean (Curry Goat) and Portuguese food. Well worth a visit!

There's not a lot I won't eat (there, I've left the door slightly open ) but I draw the line at Broad Beans, Peas and I'm very fussy when it comes to my eggs. I don't eat the white part of the egg unless its a fried egg and then it has to be crispy underneath else I won't touch it!! Yet I'm fine with mixing both together and having scrambled eggs (but runny and creamy rather than dried old rubber). But broad beans make me physically urge. Perhaps it could be the start of a cutting edge crash diet for me! Broad beans for breakfast, lunch and tea!! I'd be as svelte as Keira Knightley if I just had to eat them. It actually makes me shudder thinking of them. My old Palestinian brother in law (my sister's first husband) used to make a Broad Bean puree with the juice of 5 whole lemons to mask the taste. I declined the offer to try. I was starting to get the fear just watching him make it!

As for back home. I took mother out for dinner at the Union Inn in Denbury and they did an incredible Game Pie for about 8 quid. Very tasty indeed. Mother also swears (like the roughest docker) that the Steak and Kidney Pudding at the Two Mile Oak Inn is superb aswell.

But my personal favourite is the old number 22 Special Fried Rice of the Double Luck Kitchen in Newton Abbot. I haven't found anywhere in London, Birmingham or Leicester that does a Special Fried Rice quite like the Double Luck in Newton. High quality special fried rice topped with slices of Chicken and Pork with a BBQ sauce. Even the two cats we had used to lick the sauce off the lid before they were gently pushed in the direction of thr IAMS in the kitchen. My Cantonese colleague at work says its a old school way of serving Special Fried Rice. If you're local to Newton and you haven't tried it, you're missing out!

Stefano we have entire Malls dedicated to the food industry, every country you can think of, you walk in to the Mall and decide what countries food you would care to sample on the day. The highest quality cooked by native people to the countries food origins, awesome places, the aroma of so many different foods is incredible and the prices aren`t bad as they are all trying to fight for your custom! The first one I went to was in Dandenong in an upstairs market type place, all the food outlets were around the edge of the plaza and in the middle were communial tables and chairs so all the variety of foods were eaten together in the center of the place, it was a big round building and it worked perfectly! But saying all that my favourite is still the good old BBQ, done correctly not cremated like people over here seem to think it must be done! BBQ`s cooked by the wrong people lead to food poisoning very regularly over here I have found because people don`t let the fire calm down to hot coals and try too cook frozen chicken and pork only to burn the outside of it an leave the inside still raw and sometimes still frozen but when a Barbie is done right with all the side salads and bowls of dip and the different kinds of sea food then the BBQ is a truely wonderful scoff!

I'll have to try some of those places, Chris.

One of my favourite eating places in London is a cramped Iranian place just off Edgeware Road. It isn't licensed, the food is served on steel plates, but for my money you won't get a better meal for the price in the whole of London. The rice, kebabs and flatbread are fantastic. The place is called Patogh.

When I'd not been in London long, a colleague of mine introduced me to a Pie and Mash shop. There aren't too many of these old places left, but it was a revelation to me. The food on offer wouldn't have won any awards, but two pies plus mash and a cup of tea for less than a fiver was excellent value and felt like walking into a different era. The place I went to was called Clarke's in Exmouth Market off Farringdon Road.

To be honest, nothing symbolises what is great about London (or the UK for that matter) than it's food. Even tranditional English food, which most people seem to think has been around since neolithic times is a mixture of everything, especially French (a fact that pleases neither the English or the French!).

Plain yoghurt with avocado, followed by porage topped with blueberries and raspberries for me this morning. No beans! ⚽️