The Attendant - perfect for a snack in London W1

A hidden gem in Foley Street and built around 1890, The Attendant is a converted men's toilet complete with urinal stalls to perch at and eat your sandwich. Now I know that doesn't sound that appetising but it really is worth a quick visit if you need to rest your feet and refuel on a shopping trip to the West End. It really is just a sandwich bar but the quality is good, produce fresh and coffee is delicious. Ironically there is no toilet however so don't see this as a loo-break too....

Mosaica at The Factory

It was the man's birthday so we decided to take a long-overdue trip back to one of our favourite restaurants Mosaica. You won't just come across this restaurant as it is hidden in an old chocolate factory not far from Wood Green station (yes Wood Green) but it really is worth a visit.

Photo: Tottenham Journal

We last went about 6 years ago and since then it has been bought by musician Labyrinth. But it's still just as good (if not better to be honest) as it ever was. The waiting staff are great, the menu is small (ish) but enough to please most people and the wine list goes from the affordable to the rather outrageous (as you would expect).

It is a bit like a New York loft with open kitchen and informal furniture that's a cool mix of second-hand and salvage. The candle near our table stood on a mountain of wax which has been there since it opened about 12 years ago with the wax building up over time, and there's a real mix of art and clientelle. Aged from 18 to 80 when we were there with enough young hoodied and baseball cap wearing guys eating three courses to give it a bit more of an edge than the norm. We like it and I must say the food was really up to expectation and will definitely make Mosaica remain in our top ten list of restaurants and cafes.

Here is what we had...

For starter I had chicken liver pate with bread on the griddle and mixed pickles. Ignore the burnt looking bits - it's more char-grilled than burnt.

My main course was a real mix of flavours with the red snapper fillet being served with samphire and chickpea alioli - delicious when put together.

Last but by no means least came a rich, thick dark chocolate pie that was laced with lavender and summer berries.

We had cocktails to start, a bottle of red wine and three courses and with a tip the bill came to £52 a head which for this quality of food and ambience is really quite alright!

Mosaica at The Factory, Unit C005, The Chocolate Factory, Clarendon Road, Wood Green, London N22 6XJ.  

Thalassa Seafood Restaurant review

Fish and chips at Thalassa Fish Restaurant

Now that's what I call fish and chips!

Set in an unprepossessing part of Southgate, North London (well it is next door to the Asda supermarket) Thalassa is a restaurant which you really wouldn't look at twice. The exterior has strange sand-blasted glass and it is all very Mediterranean and wouldn't look out of place in Cyprus. It does look out of place in North London however which is a shame as the exterior really doesn't do justice to the fantastic seafood that is on offer within.
Starters range from fish soup to rock oysters, scallops and even sashimi - although vegetarians are catered for with baked aubergine. I went for sizzling King Prawns cooked in olive oil, garlic and lemon while my partner opted for Scallops served in a lobster bisque and white wine sauce.

But it was the mixed fish grill with hand-cut chips (in the photo above) which was the masterpiece of the meal. There were at least 4 fillets of fish, plaice, tuna, swordfish, cod.... all perfectly grilled and served with the freshest of chips and salad. This was the Sunday lunch menu which at £13.95 for both courses was
incredible value for the quality of food on offer.

The a la carte menu is pretty tempting and we will be going back for another look on a different evening - and look out for their lunchtime menus throughout the week, they really are great value. Lobster doesn't come much fresher than a tank at the back of the restaurant after all!

The Grapes, Limehouse review

Meeting up with an old friend we decided to abandon the usual haunts of the West End, Southbank or Covent Garden and decided to broaden our horizons to Limehouse and The Grapes Public House and restaurant.

This narrow little building backs onto the Thames and is owned by Sir Ian McKellen and Evgeny Lebedev (owner of The Evening Standard) and has been a public house for 500 years. If you like to step back into history along with downing a pint while watching the boats go by then this really has be on your visit soon list.

Originally known as The Bunch of Grapes the official address is 76 Narrow Street, London E14 8BP.
Charles Dickens knew the area well - he visited his godfather in Limehouse in 1820, but the pub's history stretches further back. It will have been in existance when Queen Elizabeth 1 laid claim to a city that was the centre of world trade - her explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert lived in Limehouse. Sir Walter Raleight set sail on his third voyage to the New World from directly below the pub and in 1661 Samual Pepys' diary records his trip to the lime kilns at the jetty just along from The Grapes.

It is The Grapes which obviously inspires Charles Dickens in Our Mutual Friend 'A tavern of dropsical appearance...long settled down into a state of hale infirmity.'

Well things have improved somewhat in the last 200 years or so and this little pub is far from a state of infirmity. We had a drink out on the balcony and incredibly the sun shone, then it was in and up the narrow staircase to a room resembling a Captain's cabin for lunch. You have to book in advance - it was packed but they kept our table while we took in the scenery and our waitress was both efficient and attentive.

I agree with owner Ian McKellen who states that the pub feels like a local but welcomes visitors, not always the case with tiny little old pubs it has to be said.

The menu was fairly limited but with enough variety to make sure there was something for everyone. I couldn't resist the squid to start - I was expecting battered rings as would be the norm for standard pub food, but was delighted to find it was a whole, small squid which had been charcoal grilled and was beautifully fresh and served with a chilli dipping sauce. In terms of the the main course the rest of my party opted for steaks which looked very good indeed but I didn't regret my butternut squash rissotto which was full of flavour and the perfect portion size.

Desserts were traditionally British and there was a wide selection of ice-creams.

Here is the menu from The Grapes to whet your appetite.

The Dining Room
Starters
Soup of the Day	£4.95
Dressed Crab with Quail's Egg	£7.50
Traditional Deep-Fried Devilled Whitebait	£5.75
Crispy King Prawns with a chilli dipping sauce	£5.75
Lobster Bisque & Fresh Herbs	£5.75
The Grapes handmade Fish Cakes	£6.95
Main Courses
Scallops wrapped in bacon on bed of tomato	£12.95
Haddock Fillet, Grilled or Crispy Battered	£12.95
Wild Mushroom & Roasted Vegetable Risotto	£10.95
Rib Fillet Steak with Garlic Mash	£15.95
Slow Roasted Lamb Shank in Subtly Spiced Tomato sauce on a bed of garlic mash	£16.95
Sir Ian's Shepherd's Pie	£12.95
Whole Roasted Sea Bass with Lemon & Parsley Butter	£15.95
Side Orders
Potato Mash with Garlic	£2.95
Leaf Spinach with Olive Oil and Nutmeg	£2.95
Green Pea Mash	£2.95
Hand Cut Chips	£2.95
Vegetable of the day	£2.95
Green Salad / Mixed Salad	£2.95

And the bill? with drinks it came to £68 per couple including a tip.

Monkey Nuts, Crouch End, London N8 8TD

Taking a group of teenagers out for lunch especially on a Sunday can be a bit of a hit and miss affair. Sometimes they can be monosyllabic, sometimes they would rather just be in bed, and when you have a mixed age range (in this particular instance it was 12 and three 17 year olds) keeping them all happy while enjoying it yourself can be a real stretch.

So we decided on the 17th birthday of one of the group to try a visit to Monkey Nuts, a steak house and wine bar in North London's Crouch End. Reviews online started off well in 2008 but became worse and worse with time and by 2011 they were downright poor and of the 'avoid at all costs' variety, but my nephew wanted to go somewhere fun for his birthday and it was not far to travel so we put on a smile and an optimistic approach and decided to give it a go.

Situated on Park Avenue. so a short hop from Alexandra Palace station and Muswell Hill Broadway, Monkey Nuts is American Diner meets themed British burger bar with the onus being on 'Monkeys' and 'Nuts'. It really does cater for the Crouch End thirty something parent with kids and is spacious but a bit noisy, even on a Sunday lunchtime. The menu is great for burger fiend's but not so great for vegetarians and for those wanting something a bit more grown-up there were great steaks, sirloin, t-bone and the like.
They also do an all day brunch which looks good...

I opted for the regular burger which was prime beef with lots on top (tomato, tomato salsa, mayo etc) and came on a small bread-board with steak knife, I also had a generous (well they should be for £3) portion of chips. My daughter had the Hot-Dog which came with chips, this was a really small bowl and to be honest a bit of a disappointment, if you say it comes with chips and you are catering for youngsters then it should come with the same size chips as everyone else. She liked it anyway.
Birthday Boy had a generous sirloin steak and my sister had a large, crisp portion of fish and chips...

Puddings were yummy - the ice-cream is particularly rich and good quality. And the over-sized Nickerbockerglory type thing had marshmallows, ice-creams, sauces and smarties!
If you have a family young or teenage I can really recommend this venue. There is a disabled/changing toilet on the ground floor (the other loos are up the stairs), it is clean and has a nice vibe to it. The staff are laid-back but we were served fairly swiftly and never felt hurried to leave when we had finished whic is often the case in fast-food places. All good, clean fun and will go back again..
Monkey Nuts, Park Road, Crouch End, N8 8TD London

The Riding House Cafe, Great Titchfield Street

This restaurant used to be the HaHa Bar and many a boozy lunchtime was spent whenever we had something to celebrate at Handbag.com - it was that sort of place. Nice fat chips, home-made fish fingers, good selection of wines and beers - and they didn't mind catering for large groups of people who wanted lunchtime drinking to turn into early evening drinking and beyond...

Anyway that all went by the wayside quite a while ago now and after a short while as a strange curry house effort, The Riding House Cafe was born. I had popped in for a coffee with colleagues once before shortly after it opened and have to say we weren't all that impressed with the service although the decor was lovely. But someone persuaded me to give it another go as the food was highly recommended, so along with my best friend Julie, I decided to give it another try to see if the initial impression was just teething troubles. To my delight things were much better and the food was as delicious as I had been promised.

Photo: The Guardian

 The menu is perfect for lunch and dinner with a selection of the usual starter, main and dessert but also providing a selection of house plates to share. We opted for these for lunch and chose the goats curd with figs and honey, and the piperade, anchovy and basil, both at a reasonable £3. We also had the baby squid, chorizo, smoked paprika, chilli and olives for £4 the plate and the cod fritter with red pepper aioli for £5. To accompany we had a wonderful chopped salad which was plentiful with avocado, palm heart, radish and dijon sauce - all fresh, crisp and delicious.

Photo: Thewanderingfoodie.com

A bottle of Prosecco came in at under £30 which for this part of town was reasonable so the whole meal including service was £35 per head including coffees.

Photo: quintessentially.com

The decor is all white, wood and tiling with a large central bar and tables either in the windows of the bar area or in the more formal dining area. You can also pop in for a drink at the bar - the cocktail list is fairly extensive too. This is a bit of a find to be honest, far enough away from the bustle of Oxford Street to give you a breather, yet easy enough to pop into, The Riding House Cafe is now on my list of favourite haunts - maybe see you in there one day...

The Riding House Cafe

43-51 Great Titchfield St

London W1W 7PQ

020 7927 0840