Adventures with Kake

On Monday I went on a Southwest London adventure! I started in Norbiton, with a very nice lunch with bob at Roz Ana, a surprisingly good modern Indian restaurant. Then Richard joined us for pubbing at the Albert, the Norbiton and Dragon, and the Spring Grove. We then walked up to Kingston Station (in a wiggly line so I could take some more RGL photos of places like Wagamama and Lush) and got a train to New Malden, where we had dinner at a tiny Korean cafe called Hamgipak and then a final beer at the Glasshouse opposite the station, before heading home.

On Tuesday I did a big pile of work, then made mangetout and oregano soup and gormeh sabzi for dinner.

On Wednesday I had lunch with bob at Le Vacherin in Chiswick, then visited the Brook and the Andover Arms before meeting mjg59 and bob at the Salutation. Then we went to Indian Zing for some very tasty Indian food.

On Thursday and Friday I don't think I did anything except work. Though I did have some fun figuring out Korean transliterations and stuff from the bill we got at Hamgipak earlier in the week.

On Saturday I cooked an enormous feast: tomato rasam, cumin fried potatoes, cabbage with lemon and coconut, courgettes with fresh coriander, dal makhani, tarka dal, lamb chops marinaded with yoghurt and chilli, carrot achar, and basmati rice. Astoundingly, bob, uon, and I managed to eat most of it.

On Sunday I went on a Southeast London adventure! I dragged bob down the Southeastern Main Line to Chislehurst, where we drank beer in the Queen's Head, the Gordon Arms, the Bull's Head, the Crown Inn, the Ramblers Rest, and the Bickley. Then we had dinner at Denny's and got the train home.

Here are some things I did last week. I don't normally lead such a decadent lifestyle; I'd given myself a week off work because I'd been working too hard and I needed one. (Links lead to my writeups and photos elsewhere.)

On Monday, I had lunch at Sedap, a new and pretty good Malaysian restaurant on Old Street. Then I wandered westwards (via a half in the Trader on Whitecross Street) to take some photos and check out some reported closures for RGL, ending up at the Queen's Head and Artichoke near Regent's Park, where I tried (and quite liked) the pork belly skewers (photo) from their tapas menu. Then I walked back along Drummond Street, buying some almond burfi at the Ambala Sweet Centre on the way, to meet some friends at the Bree Louise, where we sampled the milds they had on gravity and ate heretical pies (photo).

On Tuesday, I met a friend for lunch at Inn Noodle in Bayswater, which claims to be the UK's first pork-free Shanghainese restaurant; the dim sum were a little disappointing, though. Then I wandered around the area doing some more RGL research and photography, popping in to the Prince Bonaparte for a sit-down in the middle. Finally I got the Tube over to Hammersmith for dinner with bob at Tosa, a Japanese restaurant on King Street specialising in tasty grilled things on skewers. I took a lot of photos, and made a photoset of them on Flickr.

On Wednesday I went out for dinner with uon to Royal Palace (photo), an unassuming-looking Chinese restaurant near our house which turns out to have a secret Chinese menu with Sichuan and Northern Chinese specialities on it. I don't read Chinese, but the waitress helped me pick out a few dishes. I'll be going back next week to try a few more before I write the RGL review; I think she gave us the "safe" options, which is not a good basis for a review.

On Thursday I went to the bleak industrial wasteland of Park Royal with hoshuteki, and had lunch at Omnia, a small deli-cafe attached to a Middle Eastern bakery and wholesale business on a one-bus road lined with small-scale factories. Then we got the Tube back into town and had some wine and a few bar snacks at Terroirs, a surprisingly decent wine bar just off the Strand. I was very pleased with the boquerones (photo), less so with the duck scratchings (photo).

On Friday, I did my tax return!

On Saturday, I went out for dinner with secretlondon, lozette, and uon to Kyrgyz Kazakh House, a Central Asian restaurant concealed within a hotel on Camberwell Road. The food was OK, but it was the decor that truly amazed us (photo).

On Sunday, I rose from the dead rested.

(Let me know if this post is interesting, and I might do another one next week!)