I'm Back

Selection of butter, Eastside Inn  (photo courtesy, The Grubworm)

I'm back but before I dive in, I just want to let you know of some changes that I'm planning. Restaurant reviews can get a bit formulaic so I'm going to experiment in how I present mine. I'm not sure what direction I'm going to take but one decision I've made is to use Chinese characters in my reviews where appropriate.

I'm doing this because Chinese food can be inaccessible with the same dish having a number of different names in English. It can be confusing and it often deters non-Chinese speakers from being adventurous. In the past, I've used Mandarin pin yin and transliterated Cantonese to describe dishes but unless you speak Chinese, it isn't entirely helpful. By using Chinese characters in my reviews, you can print them out and show staff the dish you want to order, no matter which restaurant you end up in.

If you want to learn more about reading Chinese menus then I can recommend the excellent Adventures in Kake. I'm also hoping to use native languages for my write-up's of other Asian cuisines. Although this will be trickier, as my knowledge of Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese etc is non-existent.

Back to the photo of the butter at the beginning of the post, this was from the Eastside Inn. I was lucky enough to tag along with The Grubworm, who had been invited by co-owner Justine to check out their new bar snack menu. I thought the bar snacks were brilliant but who'd have though that the butter would be the star of the evening. My favourite was the seaweed butter in the middle of the photo.

My outing here was an unexpected pleasure and this post is a belated thank you to Justine (and Bjorn) for their kind hospitality, fine cocktails and excellent bar snacks. For a proper write-up of the evening, please click here.

{Update - a few short days after writing this, Eastside Inn closed for business. It's always sad when a decent joint closes and I'd like to wish Bjorn and Justine, the best of luck in their future endeavours.}

New Year's Resolutions

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Happy New Year ! Like most people, I'm crap at keeping my New Year's resolutions but this year will be different as I have my blog to keep me on the straight and narrow. So as my personal resolutions fall by the wayside, the blog will be doing its best to stick to its resolutions which are:

More Noodles

Considering my blog is called 'Eat Noodles Love Noodles', it's pretty poor that so little has been written about noodles over the last couple of months. This is going to change and the blog will refocus on noodles which means I'll be back on the trail of London's best noodles. I'll also be taking the blog in a new direction by posting about different types of noodles and how to cook them.

Global Noodles

I'll be tracking down noodles from different parts of the world. Up to now, I've only looked at noodles in East Asian cooking. Of course, there's pasta but I want to cast my noodle net outside of the traditional strongholds of the Far East and Italy. I've started my research but I have no idea where this will lead !

Cooking ? You have got to be shi.....

I'm a bit nervous about this as I can't believe that I'll be giving tips on how to cook on the internet. Whatever next, Roy Keane writing about anger management ? I'm not quite sure how this will pan out but I won't be using recipes – think of it as punk cooking – well something like that anyway. Truth is I'll be making it up as I go along.

Eating Locally

I live south of the river on the boundary of Zones 3 and 4, not that you'll know from my blog. The fact is I've been concentrating on Zone 1 eating and whilst I'll continue to write about central London, I'm going to start spreading my wings to all parts of this great city.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia / HBO

My Code

Like Omar from The Wire, I have a code except mine is to do with blogging rather than stealing from drug dealers. I know there's a food bloggers' code of ethics out there but that’s too restrictive for my liking. I mean who has time and money to go to a restaurant more than once before writing about it. So here is my code:

Try to be fair – reviewing restaurants is highly subjective and so many factors can affect your experience. I like to think I do this anyway but I will explain in detail why I dislike a place and whether there were any particular circumstances that might have influenced my opinion. This also means ......

Full disclosure – by this I don't just mean letting you know if I get a freebie (see below). It also means informing my readers whether I'm a regular at a certain restaurant or whether I've had bad experiences at a place in the past. And whilst we're on the subject of full disclosure, you should know that I'm not always consistent.......

Consistency – I'm a sucker for a certain type of eatery – you know the ones – places like Hung's, Song Que, Ramen Seto, and Chilli Cool where the kitchen takes precedence over interior design. Rightly or wrongly, I know I will give these places an easier ride than posh glitzy restaurants and shiny boxfresh chains. I know this isn't consistent with trying to be fair but at least you now know where I'm coming from.

Freebies – I've yet to be offered any freebies from any food-related PR peeps. Anyway, if I do get one then I'll fully disclose the fact and will try my best to review it as if I'm a paying customer. By the way, if Marcus Wareing’s PR is reading this, please can you let the great man know that dinner at Petrus remains one of finest meals I've ever had. Although it was nearly 10 years ago, it feels just like yesterday. Frankly, it's a travesty that he hasn't got his 3rd Michelin star yet. Well you never know who's reading......