Ashiqee, Chadderton

Classy joint, used to be council offices I was told. Nice place for a family boxing day indian meal. Popadums to start as usual and they were brilliantly augmented by lime pickle which was probably the best item of the evening and wasn't even on the menu. The menu helpfully labelled most dishes with chilis to indicate strength ranging for one to 3. Only vindaloo was a 3 chili rated dish.

Starters were substantial and even though I picked a 2 chili strength the chicken tikka kathi roll was just chicken tikka in a chapati and not very spicy at all. For main course I opted for a 2 chili lamb madras and was rewarded with a hot, fiery sauce that did have some taste. Some nice pilau rice, vegetable rice, nans etc. As usual far too much food provided and all 9 people at the table failed to eat all the food supplied. Puds were ice creamish (no kulfi) and a variety of coffees were taken. The bill was supplied with a glass of faux baileys - nice touch.

No caesar salad but starter was served with a lettuce, cucumber, tomato salad. Not as good as it should have been in a restaurant of this calibre.

Joey's Kitchen, Mirfield

This is more like it. Quality, cheap and tasty. Buy one fewer dish than the number of people (of course excluding the single person order) and you'll have plenty and the food is good stuff. The most rewarding thing is that they serve their food in re-useable plastic dishes that will comfortable accommodate a half pound of cheese or a few slices of ham. Saves buying tupperware. Good takeaway regardless.

GNER 17:33 King’s Cross to Bradford 16th December 2005

Julius and I like to do regular checks on this restaurant but, like the royal family, we never travel together in case of accidents – who would continue the blogg tradition if we both perished? Julius has found GNER lacking at times.

Hors d’oeuvre I went for the salmon and was glad I had done so. A fair sized portion of fresh and fragrant salmon laid over diced beetroot and potato salad in its own cream sauce with additional horseradish cream sauce. Very good. I could eat it right now.

Entrée The fillet steak, cooked medium, by default as I had eaten my way though the rest of the menu on previous journeys. Is there a message here about changing the menu more often? Yes. The fair-sized steak was tender and tasty and cooked according to my request. No real argument to pick with the meat itself but a blue cheese coating is added at the last minute and this detracts from the full meat flavour, as does the hint of chilli in the bed of succulent and juicy slices of celeriac upon which the steak is served. New potatoes; I still can’t get over how we so casually accept new potatoes in December and sometimes think we would benefit from returning to the days when vegetables were only seasonally available – would we appreciate them more? Mange tout peas. Both vegetables cooked slightly al dente: I can’t help feeling this was by accident but I like vegetables like this so can’t complain. Both butter coated were good-sized portions.

Dessert Egg custard served with rhubarb compote. Both lovely tastes – nicely balanced and even “fragrant”. Appropriately textured compote (so easy to stew this isn’t it?) and a good size for this portion too. The dish is decorated with the tip of a sprig of mint; I wonder what happens to the rest of the sprig? And the plant?

With a half bottle of the Chilean Merlot (Central Valley). A strength of GNER’s wine cellar is this soft but luscious, evenly balanced red wine that never disappoints. Recommended.

Coffee & chocolate – the usual GNER brand, which is not unacceptable in moderation, and a white chocolate. I hesitate to put the two words “white” and “chocolate” together and my misgivings are borne out by this sickly sweet example. A white praline enrobed in white chocolate. Both good textures but I have misgivings. Is the praline really nuts ground with cream or milk or is it some form of alternative? It tastes good enough to be the former. And the covering – what is it really?
At £34.70, a fair price under the circumstances (i.e. the food is good, there are no other restaurants to go to and you eat at 125 mph)

The Ship, Mirfield (a hungry horse!)

Good honest value. Steaks well under a tenner, wine under £6 for a reasonable red. Asked if the chicken Caesar salad could be turned into an ordinary caesar salad and reduced from £5-99 to a lower figure and was told no.

Nachos with beef chilli starter for one person actually fed 4 people.

Steaks were fine, one rare, one medium. I turned my vegetables into a side salad when ordering as caesar wasn't available but the side salad was a mass of shredded lettuce topped by an onion ring, a quarter tomato and single slice of cucumber. Asked for dressing or oil for the salad and was told we don't have oil (!). Plates were huge and filled with food. Far too much for a normal person. Lots left. Nice place, pleasant staff and reasonable food but the emphasis on quantity and little flexibility. Fed 4 people for £50 and some other places I've visited can't do 2 for that price.

GNER, Kings Cross to Wakefield, Dec 9th

Join a stream of passengers rushing for the 1700 to Edinburgh but realise after a few minutes I'm actually only going to Wakefield. Take a left and find the unannounced 1703 to Leeds is sitting empty before me. I get on. I find the restaurant car. It is empty. Yabadabadoo.

Chicken Terrine - not available so I settle for Red Mullet with mussels and clams accompaniments. Not bad. Main of Breast of Gressingham Duck, cooked pink with assorted veg and jus. Very nice. Local house red wine. Use Time card and good value at just over £20. Waitress promises me an extra delicious chocolate but doesn't deliver on her promise.

Still good value at 125mph.

The Thyme Restaurant, Crosspool, Sheffield

The advertising is right to claim “innovative menus, featuring the occasional new slant on the traditional”. The food here has bags of potential – but it needs a director of food to give it direction and to prevent food traffic accidents resulting in gastronomic road chaos.

Hors d’oeuvre: Terrine
Slice of terrine packed with hams and blue cheese served with fruit chutney and a slice of spiced loaf. The biggest clash of the day, this assemblage of parts created the antidote to all previous philosophical assertions; the epitome of anti-gestalt – the whole is less than the sum of the parts. A fascinating slice of brioche-like loaf tasting of cinnamon/nutmeg-style spices with an intriguing crunchy, sweet crust clashes garishly with a beautifully crafted slice of terrine containing ham that tastes like ham – good piggy flavours to be proud of vying for premier position with a blue cheese that wants to be boss in its own right. I could almost hear the screams as each component of the terrine tore into the other. Who was going to overpower whom? One thing is for certain; the brioche style bread and the chutney (a harmless, welcoming concoction that would cheer up any after-dinner plate of English Cheddar) will not survive in this slaughter of tastes to-the-death. One crass faux-pas – the brioche had been plated early and so had a dried surface (but the underbelly was fresh). Perhaps our own fault as we naughty diners were very late?

The Entrée: Vegetable Tagine
Well-prepared and tasty couscous served with a fair stew (in the nicest sense) of well-flavoured vegetables in an inoffensive sauce with chickpea cakes. Well, we thought that’s what it was until about two minutes into the eating – when the chilli hit us. Tagine, let me see now, Tagine, that translates as almonds, apricots, figs, chicken, subtle, under-played? – but chilli? No. I don’t think of chilli. Another road traffic accident: a clash of cultures as much as a clash of food.

The Dessert: Crème Brulée
In reality this was two desserts. In the blue corner, a crème brulée that I found disturbing. A bit like watching the first few moments of the shower scene in Psycho (what a disastrous film). I felt grim portents. The crunchy upper layer gave way to a murky stodge that was innocuous but not appealing, creamy – but then so is Pollyfilla before it sets. Probably okay to eat if you are blindfolded but something sinister in this dish. The ramekin was too small so they had to put a second dessert on the plate in the red corner. One that had nothing to do with crème brulee. A fizzy boule of cidery apple on a rectangular, apple-ringed tartin. Each component in imminent danger of nuclear collision. My eyes and mouth awaited the impact.

I drank the orange juice – a fresh, refreshing and invigorating beverage.

Overall, chef clearly lives up to the innovation claim and can produce good, high quality and wholesome food but needs to be treated for schizophrenia of the palette.
At £18, good value. Of course, good company can improve the enjoyment of any meal.

Holiday Inn, Limehouse

Steak promotion. Buy a steak get a glass of red wine. No problemo.

Fried Goat's cheese with chili dip to start. Nearly burnt mouth not on the chili sauce but the obviously microwaved goats cheese goujons.

Steak was excellent. Inch high, ordered rare to medium and received rare to medium. very impressive. No fat.

Caesar salad unfortunately didn't hit any high notes. Grated parmesan. Some dressing but not much. Reasonable croutons but that was it.

£40 for two with a bottle of wine, 2 steaks and a starter and a salad. That's good value. Holiday Inn express are coming up in the world and may take the Premier Travel Inn market. Find them on laterooms.com.

Al Nawab, Mirfield

Takeaway

Chicken Korma. OK but this is just girlie food; sweet namby pamby just turkish delight except with chicken and almonds. Wife and daughter ate this.

Lamb Madras. Seriously disappointing. No fire, no taste; no thrill; no pazzazz; just lumbs of lamb in a mid brown sauce that didn't get anywhere near an exciting tomato based, rich and spicy sauce. Would have been better getting a pot of gravy from Wibit's (the local chip shop) across the road. Wonder if an offence has been committed under the Trades Description Act. Won't go again.

Why do some takeaways offer such inferior quality?Do they think that everyone who orders is drunk and incapable of discerning between good and bad. There are so many take-aways in my district who have been crossed off my list because they serve up such crap. Do they want to build a reputation or are they looking for the quick buck. Took 50% longer than quoted for delivery as well.

Yeukk