Eddies Fish Bar and kebab shop, Kings Cross

Fed up with Pizza express I dived in to a caff much nearer the hotel. As well as fish'n'chips they had a solid Turkish menu - mostly kebabs. I sat down and chose one that said hot spices in the description.

I also asked if they had alcohol as there were no signs or products and she did say they had carlsberg. So I asked for a carlsberg. A pint of lager arrived in a  plain glass. As did this enormous kebab, 2 sauces and a pitta bread. It was wonderful. Plain simple with a hot spicy sauce. All in it was £11-95 and that includes a ripoff £4 for the lager.

Highly recommended.

Malta 4

Lightning trip to look at some hotels and food was on our minds.

Quiz question. Tell me the reg no. of a bus in Valletta.

Saturday lunch. Marsasloxx looking at traditional boats in the harbour on a warm December day. Even though it was half past one we decided on a quick lunch. Fish soup followed by prawn & porcini risotto and langoustine ravioli. Good stuff but the restaurant shot itself in the foot by serving a complimentary platter of biscuits with beans and humus before any of our order arrived. After a lovely fish soup we were both full. The mains also took a long time to arrive and they were obviously freshly cooked but we were full before they arrived. Nice boats.

Saturday evening. Walked into Valletta looking for a bit of local colour and chose Lucianos. Feta salad at 4 euros was so huge that we couldn't finish it but before we'd eaten half of it the mains arrived. Rabbit in white wine and garlic and beef olives. Server apologised when she saw we were still ploughing through the salad. We asked them to hold the mains and they did. Probably too long. When they brought them back to the table partners beef dish was cold. They re heated it but the damage was done. We paid up and left not eating much of the mains.

Sunday Lunch. Wagamama and Sushi. I apologise but we were in a rush.

Sunday in St Pauls Bay in the north. A holidaymaker hotel with holiday maker food. Awful. Saved by the cheese course where real local cheeses were available. The smallest glass of wine I've ever had. Room was crap. One wifi code per device. We had 4 devices. Bathroom had a unlockable glass swing door.

Monday on the road on the way to the airport. Stopped at a cheapo sandwich shop and bought 2 warm egg and sausage pizza slices and an apple pie for just over 2 euros the lot. Delicious.

Answer BUS + any number up to 403. BUS is a reserved eg. no. for busses. Now ask me about cabs...

Dean Park Hotel, Kirkcaldy

Nice country house hotel with restaurant and bar. Menu promised Duck leg confit in oatmeal with trimmings and it was beautifully presented with two long toasted breadsticks,  apple sauce and rocket with tasty dressing. But it wasn’t a duck leg, it was shredded duck reformed into a trapezoid shape.  Tasty but not that earthy greasy chunk of duck so common in France. Glass of Chilean red to accompany.

Mains was a fillet steak rare. Home made chips, mushrooms and vine tomatoes. I asked for horse radish and it was supplied. Onion rings were a stupendous £2-50 extra so I declined. Generally very good. Chips way too hot but the steak was nicely cooked. Glass of Chilean red to accompany.

Bill arrived and they’d only charged for one glass of wine. I told them. A young waitress whispered “Thank you for being honest” as I left.

Slept poorly. Noise from outside, inadequate single quilt kept sliding off.

Next morning the shower wouldn’t produce hot water so I gave up. Paid the bill (which had reverted to one glass of wine) and left never to return.

In conversation with people next day they said the chef had appeared in masterchef. Hmmm.

Addis, Caledonian Road, London

Ethiopian and chosen by eldest son as a farewell dinner before youngest son went to work abroad. 4 people had an Ethiopian beer, 3 starters, 4 main courses and the total was £60. Phenomenal value.

Starters were routine but quite nice but the main course was the star attraction. An Ethiopian bread called ingera was laid on the table on a huge metal plate – 60cm wide – and our 4 main courses were put onto this bread. A tad rubbery but eatable nonetheless. The main courses we chose amused youngest son so much that he almost forgot to eat his. We had Beef tibs, awaze tibs lam, ye beg wot lam and the unforgettable Derek Tibs. All good but Derek was the best. When we’d polished off the food all that was left was a bread full of curry juices which we ripped into shreds and devoured.

A really good, cheap, different meal less than 100 yards from Kings Cross station. Easy to find and worth the effort.