Week Thirty Five
Another week has gone by, as the year enters its final quarter. It was an eventful one this week with a night out in Brixton, dinner and drinks in Shepherds Bush and an interesting meal in Chelsea. When I say interesting, I actually mean in contention for the worst place I've visited this year. Lot of special guests this week as the blog continues to grow...
Special guests include: Thomas Grimes, Tom Wright, James Astin, Ben MacAndrews, Gabriel Langford, Ed Cracknell, Oli Leech, Alex Felton, James Russell, Oli Grove, Arthur Johnson, Alex Browning, Will Matthews Bex Murphy, Briony Jones, Aimee Pyatt and of course my biggest fan (Chris Hazell).
Summary of SW9 Bar
Name: SW9 Bar
Type: Gay(ish) Bar
Location: 11 Dorrell Place, Brixton, London, SW9 8EG
Website: http://www.sw9bar.co.uk
Date Visited: 04/09/14
Price: Standard
Rating: 3.1/5
Review
Beers had been drunk and now it was time for the Chinese at a place called Tian Fu just down the road. I think I can safely say this is the first time in London I had been out for Chinese, rather than having it ordered on a Sunday night to be delivered to my front door due to feeling a bit fragile after a big weekend. This place had been recommended to Ben, which meant we expected big things due to him being the Head Chef at Quo Vadis (sponsored shoutout).
We sat down and were given our menu's by the waitress, who was either bordering on rude or was incredibly efficient. After studying the menu for a few minutes, it became quickly apparent to me that my usual go to dish of sweet and sour chicken balls was not going to be on this particular menu. This is, unsurprisingly, quite a step up from the usual take away chinese I am used to and this meal was very sophisticated.
My new task was trying to find a dish on the menu which didn't contain the words spicy or chilli. It was difficult and something I was unable to complete and the table collectively decided that we should just order a mixture and have eat buffet style. It was a that moment that I decided I was going to give spicy food a try and attempt to overcome my biggest obstacle in the food arena rather than being difficult and asking to order separate. I'm glad I did.
The food was absolutely fantastic, although it was spicy. I was able to overcome this due to the food being delicious, an excessive use of napkins to keep the forehead in order, plenty of drinkable liquid and using the Chinese cabbage jelly fish salad dish as a neutraliser. That's all that dish was to me....a neutraliser, as it was by far my least favourite dish. The dishes I highly recommend is the Duck with Chinese Mushrooms and bamboo shoots along with the dry fished green beans dish, both of which were exceptional.
I was only able to have one mouthful of the aromatic spicy hot pot with it taking me out of action for the next five minutes coupled with a coughing episode and 10 napkins.
The bill came to £178 including tip, which between the 7 of us I thought was great value for money. Best Chinese in London? I haven't had better. Tell me if you know somewhere that can beat it.
My biggest fan (Chris Hazell) had just moved into his new flat in Brixton and fancied checking out some of the local haunts. Due to his unwavering loyal support since week 1, I felt obliged to attend and was joined by Tom Wright and Tom Grimes too.
One of the places included on this mini bar crawl in Brixton was the SW9 bar, which I believe was recommended to us by Tom Grimes. Not for the first time this year, I found myself in a gay bar accidentally. It took us a while to clock it and took a quick google to confirm. The internet officially confirms that SW9 is the last official gay(ish) bar in Brixton. I take it that the 'ish' refers to heterosexuals being welcome too. Well, it was a very friendly atmosphere I must say and we bumped into James Astin, who has also just moved to Brixton, who stayed for a drink too.
SW9
Despite James living in Brixton for a few months now, he too was unaware of it's sexual orientation and was surprised to hear it was a gay bar with him considering the place his local. The bar itself is nicely tucked away off the high street and is a decent joint. It does have limited seating inside and quite a small compact smoking area but it is a good place to have a quick drink.
The gang outside SW9.
The toilets were unisex, which I found particularly odd but apart from that no faults on this bar. Not going to blow your mind away but not a bad little place.
Summary of BrewDog
Name: BrewDog
Type: Craft Beer Bar
Location: 15-19 Goldhawk Road, Shepherds Bush, W12 8QQ
Date Visited: 05/09/14
Price: Good
Rating: 4/5
Review
The weekend had arrived and it was time to go for some drinks and food with a few of the university crowd. Ben MacAndrews had kindly organised the itinerary, which was a few beers before heading off for a Chinese.
Brewdog was the bar/pub of choice and the idea behind it is fantastic. Two guys had effectively grown fed up with the beers available at bars and pubs, so decided to brew their own....hence the name. They haven't been going for that long, but they are growing quick and have opened up a tonne of bars all over the UK. We were at the Shepherds Bush one and I was throughly impressed.
If you like your craft beer, then this is the place for you. The decor inside the place is superb and the lighting is perfect accompanied with a very impressive lighted menu at the back of the bar with a list of the all the different beers. The bar itself, is situated very high up with imposing beer taps which are very impressive but also make you feel slightly intimidated and small.
I was slightly late to arrive and the guys had managed to wangle us a private room at the back left of the place. I wouldn't recommend hiring out this room if you do come here, as the acoustics in the room are quite simply terrible. No matter how loud you talk or how clear you speak, it echoes horribly of each wall making it very hard to hear what anyones saying. In addition to the gargled noise coming from all us, because you are in a separate room from the whole bar, you are really missing out on the atmosphere as there is none. This is a stark contrast to the rest of the place.
This is the only small criticism I had and to be fair, we did choose to go in that room rather than standing with everyone else at the bar. I recommend this place for all beer lovers and for those that like simple lager, have no fear as there is one on the menu called 'This. is. Lager.' That did the trick for me and was very nice. No Becks Vier of course.
Brewdog was the bar/pub of choice and the idea behind it is fantastic. Two guys had effectively grown fed up with the beers available at bars and pubs, so decided to brew their own....hence the name. They haven't been going for that long, but they are growing quick and have opened up a tonne of bars all over the UK. We were at the Shepherds Bush one and I was throughly impressed.
This is the trendy bar.
If you like your craft beer, then this is the place for you. The decor inside the place is superb and the lighting is perfect accompanied with a very impressive lighted menu at the back of the bar with a list of the all the different beers. The bar itself, is situated very high up with imposing beer taps which are very impressive but also make you feel slightly intimidated and small.
I was slightly late to arrive and the guys had managed to wangle us a private room at the back left of the place. I wouldn't recommend hiring out this room if you do come here, as the acoustics in the room are quite simply terrible. No matter how loud you talk or how clear you speak, it echoes horribly of each wall making it very hard to hear what anyones saying. In addition to the gargled noise coming from all us, because you are in a separate room from the whole bar, you are really missing out on the atmosphere as there is none. This is a stark contrast to the rest of the place.
The crack team outside brew dog. Hop heaven
This is the only small criticism I had and to be fair, we did choose to go in that room rather than standing with everyone else at the bar. I recommend this place for all beer lovers and for those that like simple lager, have no fear as there is one on the menu called 'This. is. Lager.' That did the trick for me and was very nice. No Becks Vier of course.
Summary of Tian Fu
Name: Tian Fu Chinese Restaurant
Type: Chinese Restaurant
Location: 37-39 Bulwer Street, Shepherds Bush, London, W12 8AR
Website: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d3668655-Reviews-Tian_Fu-London_England.html
Date Visited: 05/09/14
Price: Great value for money
Rating: 3.8/5
Review
Beers had been drunk and now it was time for the Chinese at a place called Tian Fu just down the road. I think I can safely say this is the first time in London I had been out for Chinese, rather than having it ordered on a Sunday night to be delivered to my front door due to feeling a bit fragile after a big weekend. This place had been recommended to Ben, which meant we expected big things due to him being the Head Chef at Quo Vadis (sponsored shoutout).
Ben in his element.
We sat down and were given our menu's by the waitress, who was either bordering on rude or was incredibly efficient. After studying the menu for a few minutes, it became quickly apparent to me that my usual go to dish of sweet and sour chicken balls was not going to be on this particular menu. This is, unsurprisingly, quite a step up from the usual take away chinese I am used to and this meal was very sophisticated.
My new task was trying to find a dish on the menu which didn't contain the words spicy or chilli. It was difficult and something I was unable to complete and the table collectively decided that we should just order a mixture and have eat buffet style. It was a that moment that I decided I was going to give spicy food a try and attempt to overcome my biggest obstacle in the food arena rather than being difficult and asking to order separate. I'm glad I did.
The food was absolutely fantastic, although it was spicy. I was able to overcome this due to the food being delicious, an excessive use of napkins to keep the forehead in order, plenty of drinkable liquid and using the Chinese cabbage jelly fish salad dish as a neutraliser. That's all that dish was to me....a neutraliser, as it was by far my least favourite dish. The dishes I highly recommend is the Duck with Chinese Mushrooms and bamboo shoots along with the dry fished green beans dish, both of which were exceptional.
I was only able to have one mouthful of the aromatic spicy hot pot with it taking me out of action for the next five minutes coupled with a coughing episode and 10 napkins.
The bill. Perfect amount for 7 people
The bill came to £178 including tip, which between the 7 of us I thought was great value for money. Best Chinese in London? I haven't had better. Tell me if you know somewhere that can beat it.
Summary of The Malt House
Name: The Malt House
Type: Gastro Pub
Location: 17 Vanston Place, London, SW6 1AY
Website: http://www.malthousefulham.co.uk/
Date Visited: 07/09/14
Price: A monumental travesty
Rating: 1.6/5
Review
Roll up! Roll up! Here is contender number 2 for the worst place visited this year. Don't worry W.C. you have kept your title, as that performance will take some beating. Malthouse did run you close, very close. Briony Jones had kindly organised the dinner and a good group of us went there that Sunday evening so no blame will be held to special guests, in fact it bumped it up a couple of points.
The place describes itself as an upscale Gastro Pub. If upscale means having far too many empty tables, limited room at the bar and zapping out all possible atmosphere that this pub could have. Add music barely louder than a monks whisper and lighting offensively bright...you've got yourself an upscale elephant graveyardesque pub trying to disguise itself as a posh restaurant. No wonder there was no one there but then again it was a Sunday.
The reason for the visit was that it has been rated number 38 in the top 50 pubs in the UK by the Good Food Guide 2015. The Times has it at 6 on another list and the Metro gave it 4 stars. Maybe I caught the place on a bad evening but those reviews are laughable.
The service was poor as despite there only being a handful of people, the Malthouse was still understaffed and it took them an hour to take our orders from arrival. We arrived at 7.30 and left the place at 10.30. 3 hours for two courses in a place with very few customers....apalling and unacceptable for a Sunday night when getting to bed early is key for you to start the week fresh, especially if you have gone to as many events as I do at a weekend (ooooh look at this guy).
Opened by michelin star restauranteur. Not this place though
The food was pretty average in all honesty. I had some pate for starters which resembled cat food and didn't come with bread. This meant I had to get up to order the bread from the bar, which for some reason seemed to confuse the waiter. Come on mate, you have to have bread with pate...its a given! My main was fidget pie which I ordered only out of curiosity as didn't have a clue what a fidget pie was. A fidget pie includes ham hock, apple and a few vegetables.
What arrived was effectivey a hot pot with a bit of pastry resting on top of it. For a pie to be called a pie, it has to have the ingredients within the pastry, not beneath it. It wasn't a pie so I wasn't thrilled and it wasn't that good. Lesson learned: never order out of curiosity.
Some could say I am being overly critical but in general if your forking out £30 a head and the only drink you've had is a glass of coke along with 2 courses, you expect it to be half decent. Instead it was slow service, average food and overpriced. Briony's risotto was pretty spot on and the burgers everyone else had, were apparently ok too. Mine wasn't, so that's why it's getting a deservedly poor rating. It doesn't deserve a 2.
The outside area or the secret garden as they call it, is pretty awesome as they have decked it out nicely and have a lot of fairy lights dotted around to give it a good look. This was a rare positive from this place and I will be surprised if I ever come back here. Maybe I'll come just for drinks next time or not come on a Sunday to give it another chance. I do doubt it though.
In conclusion it was poor, very poor.
Special Shoutout
Winner: JJ Dargan
JJ Dargan your continued support has not gone unnoticed and a special shout out on this blog is more than deserved. The sharing and liking of the Facebook posts by yourself has been noticed and it is much appreciated. Although I haven't seen the man in a number of years, maybe since school, I can tell you that he's a good lad and a very good long jumper. Good work James and thank you once again. Unlucky on not winning the draw!
Poem Advice
Brixton's gone all trendy,
Plenty of cool places on show
SW9's quite popular
If your gay then I would go
Call yourself an expert
On crafted beers and ale?
Then try out the Brewdog
To see if you pass or fail
A Chinese restaurant in London
To sit down and not takeaway?
Tian Fu is the place you should go to
Although you'll struggle the following day
The Malthouse pub in Fulham
Newly renovated and open again
Average and pretty underwhelming
You'll be lucky to get out before ten
Thanks again folks and your continued support is alway appreciated, especially as we enter the business end of the year. Tune in next week!
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