thekua.com@rest

A few weeks ago, Lastminute had a fantastic 48 hour Conran sale where you could book a meal at any of the Conran restaurants at the very reasonable prices of £14.99 for a two course, or £19.99 for a three course meal. I thought it was a great way to sample the top notch quality food and enjoy the atmosphere each restaurant offers. Deciding to take up the offer, on Monday my sister and I ate at the French restaurant Sauterelle located in the heart of the stunning Royal Exchange building. Although the restaurant itself is very modern, I think the highlight was most definitely the interior and centre courtyard of the Royal Exchange, so we were fortunate to be placed at a table looking inwards.

Out waitress who was extremely polite throughout the evening talked us through the various menu options on offer since this deal came with its own tasting menu. Each course offered three different options and although only one main was vegetarian friendly, at least I could choose from two of the three starters and all desserts.

I started off with the pea soup that was then followed by a croustade of spinach, mushrooms and quails eggs topped with hollandaise sauce. The pea soup arrived in a large white bowl that deepened in the centre and held a creamy bright green liquid. The soup itself was extremely light but held lots of flavour. It didn’t need any additional seasoning and certainly didn’t need any bread or croutons to help it along. The croustade (think of a flaky pastry shell) had the three layers (spinach, then mushrooms and quails eggs) before the top was put to the side. The quails eggs had been perfectly soft boiled, with the delicately cooked whites holding a perfectly runny yolk mixing in with the mushrooms and spinach. Overall the croustade was a strange dinner item but had been very well presented and perfectly cooked. It was light but rich enough to be filling for a main.

Sauterelle benefits from its great location inside the Royal Exchange Hall. It’s a beautiful building and the fineness of the dining room compliments the interior without being overwhelming. Tables are sparse helping add a sense of roominess and privacy and we found service excellent all throughout. The dishes were well prepared and obviously made with high quality ingredients.

Details: Sauterelle
Found on: Royal Exchange, London
Contactable on: +1 212 332 7620
Highlights: Well spaced out dining rooms with elegant decor matching the Royal Exchange interior. Great service with simple foods prepared in a quality manner. Tables looking inwards are most spectacular.
Room for improvement:Expect to pay proportionate prices for the experience if paying regular menu prices.
The Kua Rating: 7.5 out of 10

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Before I lose the link, I stumbled across this page describing different techniques of visualisation. It’s useful for learning, thinking and analysis not to mention a great place to draw on in communicating ideas to other people. I like the hover over examples as well.

Check it out here.

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So one week has passed since becoming vegetarian and I’m glad to report that I’ve at least kept to the goal, whilst keeping my lifestyle as normal as possible. I’ve had some great support from friends, with hints and tips galore about what I should try and what things I should avoid. I’ve learned that vegetarians who allow themselves to eat seafood are actually pescatarian (which makes the name of the restaurant Pescatore a whole lot more sense). I’ve also learned that gelatin is derived from animals, and some forms of rennet (used in some cheeses) is also derived from animals.

I’ve gone to dim sum with some friends, missing out on a whole heap of normal dishes I would very much enjoy, and even went to dinner at the Argentinian Steakhouse, Buen Ayre (whose grilled pesto mushroom dish is fantastic). At a Vietnamese restaurant I went to during the week I missed out on the free appetiser (it had meat) and I could only order one main meal on the meal, aptly name ‘The Vegetarian Dish’.

I’m not missing meat as much as I thought I would and I’m finding a whole heap of new food combinations to eat. Grocery shopping is certainly different as many of the prepared or semi prepared parts of a meal all contain some sort of meat. I’m also not as tired as I thought I would be. In a way I actually feel a little bit better.

Bring on week two!

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Our uncle, who I was staying with over Christmas, highly recommended tracking down some pretty fancy french toast somewhere around the Rockefeller centre for breakfast. He told us that they apparently soaked brioche overnight in the egg mixture for the next morning and they were somewhat unique. After a bit of trial and error (note that the Sea Grill do not do breakfast), we found the french toast dish served at the Rock Center Cafe, an extremely popular place overlooking onto the scenic ice skating rink and Adonis statue.

Prices at the cafe are overpriced for breakfast with coffees around USD4 but I can understand this given the popularity of the ice skating rink and the cafe’s prime location looking onto the centre of the rink. When seated a waitress served us a shot of a strawberry smoothie and some madelines (surprisingly we didn’t get charged for either), and then some water almost immediately. Throughout the meal service was pretty consistent and it was just about right - not too much in your face but someone around to ask for something.

Since we came here for one dish alone, we decided to both get it and a side of bacon (for its salty contrast). As you can tell from the picture in this post (click on it to get a larger version), the four slices of bread was absolutely massive, covered in berries and icing sugar. So the verdict… Perhaps its an American thing but I thought that everything was far too sweet and I found myself constantly reaching for anything to counteract it including my coffee, water and the bacon. Other than that, the bread was nice and soft and eggy and the berries extremely fresh (and just as sweet). The bread was a touch dry but I think that’s the nature of brioche and the maple syrup that accompanies the toast can help counteract that. It was a delicious treat that certainly got you going for the day, and a great experience to sit next to the ice skating rink.

Details: Rock Center Cafe (Breakfast only from 7am to 10am)
Found on: 20 W 50th Street, New York, NY, 10020
Contactable on: +1 212 332 7620
Highlights: Lovely location next to ice skating rink with decent food and decent service.
Room for improvement:The french toast was excessively sweet and prices a little bit excessive for the food.
The Kua Rating: 7.5 out of 10

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It’s nice to see some dog parks around New York City (this one sat near to the Chelsea Piers) and I thought it quite amazing watching these dogs play fetch.

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Teany is owned by Moby and is one of the many tea rooms that surprisingly exist in New York. It’s located in the East Village and serves over one hundred types of specialities in addition to vegetarian and vegan foods including sandwiches, scones, biscuits and cakes. I think you pronounce the story as “Tea NY” opposed to “teeny” but it wasn’t quite clear to me. As I sat and had my tea and scone I noticed that the majority of people appeared to be tourists with their lonely planet guides in tow, or a few local fashionably dressed New Yorkers.

The tea menu is overwhelming and although the prices are over inflated for New York some of the teas are definitely unique blends that are worth the try. The pot of tea is also excessively large and easily serves two people. I ordered the Earl Grey Creme, a scented black tea infused with vanilla flavours and as I just found out on their site, apparently one of their best sellers. I found it nice and light without any need for sugar what so ever. I also ordered a scone with clotted cream and jam that I thought was okay for the United States. Like most things on the continent I could taste the large amount of sugar or sweetener they’d added so each bite didn’t really need much jam other than for a different flavour. I think it would have went well with a tea that tasted slightly more bitter.

The atmosphere was bustling without being too crowded and if New York has good weather, I suggest sitting outside in the canvas-covered area where you can absorb the maximum amount of sun and warmth.

Details: Teany Cafe
Found on: 90 Rivington Street, New York, NY 10002
Contactable on: +1 (212) 475-9190
Highlights: Huge selection of teas, vegan selection of food and a nice relaxed atmosphere.
Room for improvement: Slightly overpriced in all aspects but understandable considering the name behind it
The Kua Rating: 6.5 out of 10

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Last November I decided I was going to try going vegetarian for a month as an experiment to see how hard it would be, what things I would normally eat that I would miss, and to see how it affects the body. December was out since it was such a festive period and part of January since I didn’t want to miss out on certain food experiences whilst overseas, I’ve committed to trialling a month of being a vegetarian until February 6.

Here are the rules I’m playing by:

• All fruit, vegetables and legumes are fine.
• Certain meat products are okay such as all forms of diary products (cheese and milk).
• Eggs are okay.
• No meats including your standard chicken, lamb, beef and all types of seafood.
• Products listing animal rennet and gelatin must be avoided.

If you have any suggestions about making the move, some recipes or some other tips I should be aware of (maybe other things I should avoid), I would certainly like to hear about them.

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When I was in New York, I managed to catch up with Gerrod and Kristy a couple of times and we visited a couple of nice restaurants together with their current visitors Karl and Caroline. The most recent one we visited was Pescatore that conveniently wasn’t too far from where they lived. This restaurant is split into two floors with apparently the bottom floor a totally different and definitely more positive experience than if you sat on the top floor. Gerrod thankfully booked in advance (it’s one of those things that you just have to do if you want to go eat somewhere in Manhattan at a normal dining hour) and they seated us at a nice round table as soon as we arrived.

As it sounds by the name, this restaurant serves Italian food and after dinner I concluded it was pretty decent stuff too. By the time we sat down I think we were all pretty hungry so we ordered appetisers and an entree (a main course dish) soon after we arrived. When the first course arrived I think we were all stunned by the size of the plates and could have easily been almost a meal on its own. The calamari plate was huge as was the bruschetta and the bowl of lobster bisque I ordered was absolutely massive. I thought the lobster bisque was fantastic - it had the right level of creaminess and just enough flavour without being overbearingly fishy. Better yet was the huge number of lobster chunks all throughout it and the small toasted bread to give it additional contrast. My mail meal, a grilled snapper was also nice though I thought it was slightly overcooked and their effort to completely debone the fish was incomplete. Service was pretty good all night around and the waiters seemed to top up our water glasses just enough times and they were never in our face.

Details: Pescatore
Found on: 955 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10022, USA
Contactable on: +1 212-752-7151
Highlights: Great dining atmosphere on the ground floor. Great valued appetisers.
Room for improvement: My fish was slightly overcooked and my fish still had a couple of bones left in them.
The Kua Rating: 7 out of 10

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