[Food] Restaurant thread 2021

Bozza said:

Tonkotsu coming to Brighton - good news for ramen fans.

https://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Article/2021/04/09/Ramen-specialist-Tonkotsu-heads-to-Brighton

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Machiavelli said:

Thanks for that. I love the Dean St branch, so am very excited. Balancing that, I do wonder if they're over-extending themselves, very probably, because...and they can maintain the quality. ...almost no one can; it’s bloody hard

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thedonkeycentrehalf said:

Reading the Tonkotsu article (and that menu looks great) I didn't realise Polpo had shut down.

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Goldstone1976 said:

Osborne Bros, Leigh on Sea.

I seldom travel to Essex. Most of my experiences involve the bottom end of the M11 and Stansted airport.

Today, however, we braved the Wild East.

It all started with the GLDHI stealing my office chair. Many years ago I treated myself to a second hand Herman Miller Aeron (what, you think I'd pay over £1k for a new one?), and it's been a godsend for WFH for the last year. The GLDHI has been resisting a purchase of the same, but has recently resorted to stealing mine:

'Oh. I didn't think you'd notice'.
'What; I wouldn't notice the disappearance of the only chair in my office?'
'Well, there's a sofa in there too...'
'Hmmpf'.

So, I bought her one off EBay. If I didn't buy a new one for myself, you can rest assured that I wouldn't buy a new one for someone else, even the love of my life. It was located in Leigh-on-Sea, so off we set this morning.

The chair was perfect (phew) and the nice chap who had sold it to us said 'Since you're out here, you might as well pop down to the Sea Front and buy some fish from Osborne Bros - they supply loads of good restaurants in London. Being somewhat wary of recommendations for food outlets (an attitude occasioned not least by a recommendation from [MENTION=409]Herr Tubthumper[/MENTION], which restaurant sported both a bouncer and crappy wine glasses, as long-time readers of this thread may recall), the GLDHI looked it up on Tripadvisor.

'4.7. Pretty good', says she.
'Yeah, but that's 4.7 from Essex inhabitants. They probably give 4.8 to the local McDonalds', said someone else in the car.

So, off we trot down to the Sea Front.

The Sea Front comprised endless miles of mud, reminiscent of Burnham-on-Mud.

"The tide is way, way out", says the GLDHI.
"You think?"

The Old Town (aka Sea Front) comprises a strange mixture of businesses, part marine/fishing industry, part pubs (six from memory), part restaurants (all seafood, apart from one gelaterie), one 'art' gallery (which as far as I could ascertain contained nothing that could reasonably be described as art), and some portaloos. It was pretty busy; I can imagine it would be rammed on a non-Covid summer's day.

Osborne Bros has two wet fish outlets, and a restaurant - all outdoor seating atm, of course.

We go straight in.

The GLDHI had a peppered mackerel salad; I had king prawn skewers on an asian slaw and a (big) side of (hand cut, I asked) crinkle cut chips. A couple of mugs of tea completed our impromptu lunch.

The salad was decent - greens fresh, a very nice home-made dressing and the mackerel was much like any other peppered mackerel from a decent place. The skewers were exceptional, as were the slaw and the chips. £22.50, plus a tip. Really very good; the more so because we weren't expecting to eat. 4.7? Nah; but a good 4.4/4.5.

We visit the wet fish shop: 4 sea bass for £12, a couple of sea bream in chilli and samphire for a fiver, some cockles, winkles, jellied eels, and rollmops - all for a pony.

On the way out, we saw some signs saying "Aylen" together with a chequered flag.

I thought, but did not say, that it might be for a local racing car driver who had died.

The GLDHI google it.

'He's a candidate for the local elections. He's not affiliated with a Party'.
'Oh?'
'He wants to kill the muntjac deer'
'Why?'
'They eat the bark off the trees, apparently'.
'Oh'.
'He looks a tosser'.

And thus we left Essex.

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Goldstone1976 said:

Osborne Bros, Leigh on Sea.

I seldom travel to Essex. Most of my experiences involve the bottom end of the M11 and Stansted airport.

Today, however, we braved the Wild East.

It all started with the GLDHI stealing my office chair. Many years ago I treated myself to a second hand Herman Miller Aeron (what, you think I'd pay over £1k for a new one?), and it's been a godsend for WFH for the last year. The GLDHI has been resisting a purchase of the same, but has recently resorted to stealing mine:

'Oh. I didn't think you'd notice'.
'What; I wouldn't notice the disappearance of the only chair in my office?'
'Well, there's a sofa in there too...'
'Hmmpf'.

So, I bought her one off EBay. If I didn't buy a new one for myself, you can rest assured that I wouldn't buy a new one for someone else, even the love of my life. It was located in Leigh-on-Sea, so off we set this morning.

The chair was perfect (phew) and the nice chap who had sold it to us said 'Since you're out here, you might as well pop down to the Sea Front and buy some fish from Osborne Bros - they supply loads of good restaurants in London. Being somewhat wary of recommendations for food outlets (an attitude occasioned not least by a recommendation from [MENTION=409]Herr Tubthumper[/MENTION], which restaurant sported both a bouncer and crappy wine glasses, as long-time readers of this thread may recall), the GLDHI looked it up on Tripadvisor.

'4.7. Pretty good', says she.
'Yeah, but that's 4.7 from Essex inhabitants. They probably give 4.8 to the local McDonalds', said someone else in the car.

So, off we trot down to the Sea Front.

The Sea Front comprised endless miles of mud, reminiscent of Burnham-on-Mud.

"The tide is way, way out", says the GLDHI.
"You think?"

The Old Town (aka Sea Front) comprises a strange mixture of businesses, part marine/fishing industry, part pubs (six from memory), part restaurants (all seafood, apart from one gelaterie), one 'art' gallery (which as far as I could ascertain contained nothing that could reasonably be described as art), and some portaloos. It was pretty busy; I can imagine it would be rammed on a non-Covid summer's day.

Osborne Bros has two wet fish outlets, and a restaurant - all outdoor seating atm, of course.

We go straight in.

The GLDHI had a peppered mackerel salad; I had king prawn skewers on an asian slaw and a (big) side of (hand cut, I asked) crinkle cut chips. A couple of mugs of tea completed our impromptu lunch.

The salad was decent - greens fresh, a very nice home-made dressing and the mackerel was much like any other peppered mackerel from a decent place. The skewers were exceptional, as were the slaw and the chips. £22.50, plus a tip. Really very good; the more so because we weren't expecting to eat. 4.7? Nah; but a good 4.4/4.5.

We visit the wet fish shop: 4 sea bass for £12, a couple of sea bream in chilli and samphire for a fiver, some cockles, winkles, jellied eels, and rollmops - all for a pony.

On the way out, we saw some signs saying "Aylen" together with a chequered flag.

I thought, but did not say, that it might be for a local racing car driver who had died.

The GLDHI google it.

'He's a candidate for the local elections. He's not affiliated with a Party'.
'Oh?'
'He wants to kill the muntjac deer'
'Why?'
'They eat the bark off the trees, apparently'.
'Oh'.
'He looks a tosser'.

And thus we left Essex.

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Guinness Boy said:

Excellent.

The mention of fish and reply from [MENTION=13683]Cowfold Seagull[/MENTION] reminded me that we had our wedding anniversary dinner at The Salt Room on Thursday night. Their terrace menu is excellent, a cut down from the normal but still plenty of choice. The scallop starter with dashi and oyster mushrooms was the stand out for me, a lovely meaty sauce that still managed not to overpower the scallop. And some good bargains to be had on the wine. We had a Domaine Jean Goulley Chablis which was incredible for £58 a bottle but only really pushed the boat out that far because a) anniversary and b) not been out properly in SO long. However, there are other cheaper whites on the list that still look decent quality.

It was ****ing freezing though.

Cowfold, have you had your Sunday lunch there yet?

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Machiavelli said:

What a treat to eat inside a restaurant again. Even more so when it's Fourth & Church. Lots of lovely things on their (weekend) tasting menu, with special mention to their Southdown lamb leg, that came with broad beans, lentils delightfully spiked with harissa and tapenade.
We drank some stunning wines too. Special mention to: Timorasso Walter Massa, Argiano Brunello di Montalcino 2015 and Donhof Riesling Auslese

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Machiavelli said:

What a treat to eat inside a restaurant again. Even more so when it's Fourth & Church. Lots of lovely things on their (weekend) tasting menu, with special mention to their Southdown lamb leg, that came with broad beans, lentils delightfully spiked with harissa and tapenade.
We drank some stunning wines too. Special mention to: Timorasso Walter Massa, Argiano Brunello di Montalcino 2015 and Donhof Riesling Auslese

Click to expand...

Goldstone1976 said:

Some excellent wines there.

It prompted me to spend an hour looking through some past MW papers. I reckon I’d do OK on about 50% of the tasting questions (they list at the end the wines being shown) and about 20% of the theory - I’d be able to provide some response to every question, but I’d be far too superficial for the vast majority. An abject fail, I fear.

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