Foodblog – Berkeley Square Barbarian

RedFarm, Covent Garden

November 24, 2019 1 Comment

Ms B and I have just returned from a late lunch at the once much talked-about RedFarm restaurant. It is located next to another New York import, Balthazar, in Russell Street, next to the Royal Opera in the centre of Covent Garden. From inside it is bigger than it looks from outside, with nearly one hundred seats over three floors. RedFarm has been founded and, from what we understand, continues to be part-owned and run by Brooklyn-born, Chinese cuisine scholar and restaurateur Ed Schoenfeld (he’s got nearly 60 restaurants under his belt) and dumpling master chef Joe Ng, who grew up in Hong Kong. Their first of now three restaurants opened in Greenwich Village, NYC, nearly ten years ago (the remaining one is located on the Upper Westside). The London outlet opened last year. Ranking a relatively low #2,330 of 20,000 London restaurants on Tripadvisor with 8 out of 96 […]

Frankfurt restaurants, Germany

Mainkai Café, Frankfurt – Great value meals with a view of the Main

November 17, 2019 No Comments

Ranking roughly #20 out of 2,000 Frankfurt restaurants on Tripadvisor (including a Certificate of Excellence until 2018), Mainkai Café had been recommended to me on various occasions. So I was very pleased, when I was invited to bring a friend and check out their food. Located next to Frankfurt’s beautifully re-built Old Town on the riverbank of the Main, the big windows of the tiny Café offer good views. My friend had already arrived when I rocked up a few minutes late. The interior is basic but friendly. After short deliberation my buddy went for kofta with couscous and salad (€11.90) while I ordered venison goulash with Schupfnudeln (a type of freshly made thick noodles made of potatoes, flour and eggs), red cabbage, and cranberry jam (€14.50). Both dishes arrived after just ten minutes, and even before they arrived on our table, we could tell from the lovely smells that […]

London, London restaurants

Ye Olde Mitre, Holborn – London’s best-hidden pub and a gem of a boozer

October 31, 2019 6 Comments

The Barbarians are always in for a good challenge. So when fellow travel blogger David from Stray with David recently visited town and suggested we should meet up for a couple of quick pints at London’s best-hidden pub, we turned it into a competition who would find it first. We literally bumped into each other at the signposted entrance to the tiny alleyway off Hatton Garden and called it a draw. Apparently the entrance at the other end of the alley is much harder to find. Half way through the passage the path widens and opens to the sky, letting a healthy amount of light in, and there it is: the beautiful, award-winning, top-ranking, famous Ye Olde Mitre with its oak-panelled ground floor façade and dark leaded stained-glass windows. Even though the only thing that remains from its initial existence today is a single corner stone, the pub traces its […]

London restaurants

New Street Grill, London – Great steaks.. but..

January 10, 2019 1 Comment

We enjoyed the steaks at our recent visit to New Street Grill. It is located in a small alleyway just off Liverpool Street Station. Staff seemed a bit distracted and hectic from the beginning to the end, with several different waiters taking turns at our table. But we were mainly in for a quick good fill of good value steak on a school day evening, not for tittle-tattle or excellence in hospitality, so no complaints. The atmosphere is masculine, dark, with a lot of wood, leather, steel, possibly more appealing to me than to Ms B. Both of us liked the atmosphere, especially that there was a lot of space, everything looked modern, pleasant, and colours are warm and relaxing. We decided to opt for the rather reasonably priced two-course set menu, which comes in at £25 per person, including a small glass of wine, each. We were […]

London, London restaurants, Michelin restaurants

Fera, Claridge’s – Fine Dining in Mayfair

May 12, 2018 6 Comments

We have just returned from our lunch at Michelin-starred Fera at Claridge’s , whose kitchen has been headed by Australian chef Matt Starling since February 2017. Fera focuses on British cuisine. We had been having meals at Claridge’s in the past, when it was called “Gordon Ramsey at Claridge’s” and when it was labelled London’s most overpriced, overrated restaurant. However, Ms B, my wife, found out that instead of charging you £300+ for a meal for two with wine, like in the olden days, there was now a surprisingly acceptable lunch deal on offer: three courses and a glass of champagne or gin and tonic for £42 per person. For an additional £10 you can add their signature snacks (we didn’t, because we weren’t that hungry). There is an undeniable wow effect when you enter the dining room through a curtain-lined entrance which leads to a rotunda, where the room […]

You may also like

You may also like

You may also like

You may also like

You may also like